It was March 13, 2020, when I wrote about my grandmother’s experience with the 😷Spanish Flu way back in 1918. I was 📝working on another piece for my weekly Sunday post, and I decided to scrap that one for another 📆time because I felt that it was more important to address the elephant in the room. The elephant was- and still is- COVID-19.
At the time, I only knew it as the coronavirus. The term COVID-19 was introduced to me a few days later. I knew that it 🔬proved to be easily transmissible and ❌deadly as it swept through other countries and that it was now a real threat here as well. I knew that my grandmother’s story was relevant. It could teach a lesson that it appeared we were going to need to learn. So, I saved my other piece for another 📆time and 📝wrote about my grandmother’s story.
That post was shared hundreds of times. I heard from 😍people that I know. I heard from ☺people that I’ve never met in places I’ve never visited. My grandmother’s story touched people. The lesson I hoped to share seemed to resonate with people far and wide. I was 😇hopeful that we would collectively do what needed to be done to 💥smash this threat, and life would get back to normal after a brief intermission.
Fast forward 5 weeks- it’s still here. As a matter of fact, the new 🔬information makes it more threatening than originally thought. 👶Young and 👵👴old, healthy and those with health concerns are surviving. Those same demographics are dying at alarming rates. This virus doesn’t discriminate- 👽it can come for any one of us. The intermission has turned into a postponement of life as we knew it. I suspect that our previous lifestyle isn’t coming back anytime soon.😥
Mia lives in Orlando. Whenever we make the 🚗road trip to visit her, we stop by a 🌊beach on the way there or the way home. We try to hit different 🌊beaches to experience new places. I like to gather 🐚shells and sand to bring back. Some of my beach finds are kept in glass jars in our master bathroom. I’m kind of feeling like those 🐚shells right now- in my own jar (insert the word house) and safe from the outside world.
That 🌎world is scary, not just because there’s a deadly virus in the air. It’s also frightening because of the people who don’t get it.😬 Those people are putting the rest of us at risk. Want an example? Ken went to Walmart for a 🍎🍓🍌grocery stock-up trip. Another customer was walking through the store and eating items from the 🍩bakery with her bare hands as she shopped. ❎No gloves. ❎No cleaning her hands with sanitizer between bites. Not even an awareness of social distancing as she scooted in between people to make her way through the aisles- touching merchandise and handles to refrigerators along her path. 😲With fingers that were going in and out of her mouth! Think, people!😤
The other thing that 😱scares me- and I’m not asking for any political comments- is the idea that people are ignoring the facts and sharing things that they believe or wish to be true. 🔬Science is science, folks. Don’t try to spin it. Don’t sacrifice information for loyalty to one news outlet or one person. This requires a team effort, and we need to be on the same team.👍
I’m also going to suggest that we all be 🙊mindful of what we’re posting. The 😂funny memes lighten the weight of this- that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m referring to the comments that suggest this isn’t real😬 or that people are stupid to be 😱afraid of it because it’s “just like the flu.” Or “those 💀death numbers aren’t real.” 😷Someone reading your post may be truly scared of going to work. 😷Someone reading your personal thoughts may be sleeping in a garage so that the virus isn’t brought into their home. 😷Someone reading your post may be waiting for that phone call from the hospital to update their relative’s condition because no one can visit COVID-19 patients. 😷Someone reading your post may be suffering alone through a positive diagnosis. Be sensitive to others- that’s not a bad thing, you know.💞
This is a ⏰time to be on the same team with the same goal- 🚫stop the spread of the virus while doing whatever it takes to help the professionals do their lifesaving jobs. Let’s also remember that healthcare and essential workers are working for you and me.😍 That’s it! ☑It should be fairly simple. We just need to stay in our jars (remember- that’s my metaphor for 🏠home!) and do our part. If you have to get out to the store, wear a 😷mask for the sake of your fellow shoppers. For heaven’s sake- don’t eat while you’re there and get your nasty spit on everything you touch.😞
What if…we focused on the goal? The sooner we truly do this, the sooner we can get out of our jars. Be 🔬smart. Be 😷safe. And, stay well, friends!💞
sharing the stairs 