Things I want to remember if/when this has calmed down:

1. There’s always a virus ready to attack. Life is fragile. Another pandemic can be right around the corner. Take nothing for granted.
2. There are true heroes in times of crisis, and they aren’t bosses and leaders. They are grocery store clerks, trash pickup workers, USPS workers, UPS/FedEx/Amazon delivery people, food handlers, factory workers, Triple A, long-distance truckers, and of course, law enforcement and health care workers—from lab techs to janitorial workers to aides, nurses, and doctors. They show up and do their jobs. Some of them under terrible duress, and they might never recover from the trauma of watching helplessly as people died on their watch. I need to continue to hold them in my thoughts instead of allowing ‘out of sight—out of mind’ to become normal. I called my PCC office a couple of time just to ask if everyone there was okay. They seemed touched to know that someone cared how they were. I need to keep doing that.
3. Mainstream media employees from the lowest-paid to the TV personalities, from bloggers and local weekly newsletter editors to major media giants kept me informed minute-by-minute to what was going on—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
4. People rose to the occasion, for the most part. People helped each other. They performed acts of kindness and selflessness that perhaps even they wouldn’t have foreseen. Strangers were, again for the most part, nicer to each other. Shared catastrophes do that. The Trump foolishness with the anti-mask message messed with that, but most people seemed to get it. I ranted a lot, and my like-minded friends sent me thumbs ups. The ones who didn’t agree with me avoided me, which was/is fine.
5. I missed my grandchildren’s milestones and everyday activities so much, I hope I never take it for granted should I be lucky enough to be present to them, mask-less, again. I want to do a simple thing like pick Wyatt up at school and take him for ice cream or even just back here for a couple of hours. I want to read to them and let them snuggle with me, and if I get to do that, I hope I never forget how great it feels.
6. Video chatting is not a bad idea, even when we’re allowed to mingle again. Not everyone lives nearby. In fact, most of my friends live somewhere else, and it never would have occurred to me to try to ‘see’ them as we talked. Now it’s commonplace—and fun.
7. I love my friends, as well as my family. We supported each other—on Zoom and Google chats, on the phone, in emails and text messages and Facebook postings. We kept each other reminded that we’re all in this together. It’s true that some people’s boats are yachts and some are pieces of driftwood to cling to. There is definitely inequity, and I want to never forget that, but the river threatened everyone and killed indiscriminately.
8. Dogs and cats are great companions.
9. Reading a good author is a gift.
10. There are way too many blogs, podcasts, films, articles, and music I want to check out, and I can’t do it all.

Who knew we would still be hanging in the balance here? But since we are, and since it’s on my mind at least seven out of every hour I’m awake, here are my latest ponderings.

I have heard the following: “You never gave him a chance. Right from day one he had an uphill battle.” Probably true. But I remember day one: He claimed he had millions more people in the National Mall than Obama did when he was inaugurated. Which was easily disproved with photographic evidence, which was then disputed by Spicer (remember him?) who said the photos had been doctored. We knew then, didn’t we? We were dealing with an ego-centric man-child whose bombastic lies just kept coming—all designed to make him look good, better, bigger, the best, and the biggest. And even though he did actually accomplish some things, (at least his signature is on some helpful legislation) there was little evidence to indicate he cared about anything else except his image.

He might have promised us a return of America to its original Mom and apple pie values with prayer in public schools (which would solve everything), but he misspoke. It was a promise he couldn’t keep; no one can. We’re a majority rules kind of place, and we’re moving forward (some of you would say backward, but that’s not how time works) into a brave new world with wondrous and some not so wondrous creatures in it. Change is never comfortable, but it is always inevitable. And messy. Like it or not, this country and the world will look very different in this next century/millennium than it does today or than it did during the time some of us wish they could go back to, the time that was never really the magical time they thought it was. We always remember the good stuff, that’s why the pain of giving birth is forgotten, and what we remember is the joy we felt when we held the baby.

If you’re a Trump fan, feel free to send him your hard-earned money to ‘fight the legal battles’ if you must (it’s really to pay his campaign debt), but when all the dust settles, let’s try to be friends again. Or at least civil with one another. There will be leadership that looks like something we all know—smiling faces. We’ll see photos with pets and something new—a female vice president wearing Converse sneakers. There will be music and laughter! Except for social distancing and masks, It will look almost normal. There will be decorum and respect and presidential behavior. There will be calm assurances from a democratic leader who’s there to work for everyone instead of just those who adore him. 

Let’s make a deal: On day one let’s see if he actually lies to us about something that can be verified. If he does, you have every right to take your marbles and hunker down and wait it out with a scowl on your pretty face. If he doesn’t, then give him another day. And then another. He’s only human and he can’t make everybody happy. He will not please you with some of the things he does, but know that he’s not doing it to look good or to throw his weight around; he’s doing it because he believes—for better or worse—that it will benefit the country he loves more than he loves himself. Won’t that be refreshing?