"What a difference a day makes" is something I've commented on so many times. I realized I haven't blogged in more than a month.
It was a busy month.
And then, BOOM.
Within slightly more than a week- our whole calendar shut down. The whole NATION's calendar shut down. Our library had to close for lack of cleaning supplies. Whoa, that seemed a bit extreme.
Then schools started closing. Tom and I went on our regular Monday morning grocery trip. This time- there were bare shelves. Someone stopped us in the parking lot, asking if we had purchased toilet paper, could we give/ sell them a roll? (We hadn't bought any.) (Our routine purchase of TP had been last week.)
All our regular weekly events canceled.
We are blessed. Until Nickole came to live with us, I went to the library maybe every 3 weeks. That was my only reason to leave the house, except our Monday grocery trip.
I grew up in a situation where, while we had food to eat- there wasn't a LOT to be had in our cupboards. When my eldest two were little, before Tom and I got married- I had to live for weeks at a time with a diet of what I could make from WIC foods.Rice with milk gravy for days on end. What's his name (my ex) would do the grocery shopping on his pay day, twice a month. He would buy a turkey every time. There were two adults, and two pre-school children. I don't know if you can imagine how tedious it is to have an unvaried diet of turkey, or white rice with gravy.
Over the years between then and now, I noticed that I fill my pantry and freezer with sales items, as often as I can afford to buy extra. I cannot bear to see garden produce left to waste. The roadsides bloom with berries and fruit- and I feel compelled to harvest all I can.
I realized that this compulsion to stockpile isn't necessary- we live in America! If you are out of something, you make a trip to the grocery store, where you have CHOICES of sizes, brands, flavors of every imaginable comestible. The land of plenty. 24 hours a day, seven days a week!
I began this post last week. I got busy, and let it sit in my draft folder. The shelves at the grocery stores continue to be emptied faster than employees can stock them, faster than trucks can resupply the stores. There are lines awaiting stores to re-open. Businesses who were open 24/7 have reduced hours have cut back to just a few hours per day. Special times are set aside for the elderly, pregnant, and handicapped to shop.
Purchase limits have been imposed to help insure everyone has access to the supplies on hand. The limits are making life difficult for the larger families. Two packages of hamburger may last my family two weeks- and a large family two meals. They must either shop daily, or take additional family members out into the fray, or stop at multiple stores.
We are learning the difference between "Shelter in Place" and "Lockdown". Some countries are on complete lockdown. My soon to be daughter-in-law lives in Lima, Peru. It is a city of 10 MILLION people. She sent us an 8 second video taken from the apartment where she is staying during lockdown. The streets are silent. There is NO TRAFFIC in the wide roads that are some 8 lanes across.
Schools are deciding to remain closed for the rest of the school year. Two income families are finding themselves sheltering at home, with no income at all. Some cities are banning all gatherings of more than 10 people.
Many are freaking out as funerals are denied, weddings postponed or canceled. We are told this is to slow the spread of a virus, to keep medical facilities from being overwhelmed as the virus peaks.
As the next few days, weeks, months unfold- just what changes will we be experiencing?
Personally, I expect that pretty much everyone may get The Virus. Many probably already have had it, before it was a "big deal". Media fearmongering has incited what was the 'bug' of the year (there's one pretty much every year that people are told to fear and panic about!) into a real hysteria.
Yes, people are dying from this. No, nobody wants those deaths to be someone they love- who would want such a thing? But the panic? This needs to stop.
