February 25, 2021 ~ Thursday (Vaccines available … Covid still raging)
It’s a gray, leaky day up here in the NW. It matches my mood. If you do not know me or have not read some of my writing, I am a passionate person. I’m deeply sensitive (maybe too much at times) … and hence, “things” bother me. Sometimes greatly. I’ve been feeling gray and leaky for a few days now … after a few months and after almost a whole year of feeling that way. The NW rains and gray skies do not help with any of this. But … here we are and it would be remiss of me not to mention this week’s milestone.
A year ago I was two weeks out from flying off to CO to see family/my mom/friends … and then leap-frogging to NC to nose around and “find my spot”. I’d already packed up over 100 boxes since that new year (2020) began in hopes that moving would be sooner than later. I was ready to find a place to move to … to call my new home. Nothing was gonna stop me.
Until … it did. Covid-19. I was town/house hunting in northern NC when the news of this new virus went, um – for lack of better description, viral. WA state was having an abundance of cases (something like 20) – in nursing homes – but there were grumblings of closing the state’s borders/airport … keeping everyone in or out … and I felt an urgency to get home before any of that happened. It felt far-fetched, but I wasn’t going to chance it.
So, I canceled my plans, changed my flight and flew back home mid-March. And I’ve been on this rock ever since. I’ve seen my kids. I’ve eaten a frozen dinner solo for TG. I have face timed and zoomed and Portaled … but it’s not the same as being with someone else. I am craving human contact! I know so many of us are. I’ve eaten out with a friend – sitting outside – freezing our butts off – paying stupid prices for a cold lunch in the cold air on a cold seat – hoping all the time that the person 6 feet from me wasn’t sharing any cooties. I didn’t do it again. I got in an argument with an assh*le at the pizza window – he was carrying his mask. It’s a town mandate to WEAR one (not carry one). That and the cold lunch have been the only things I’ve gotten from restaurants (other than drive thru when I’m on the mainland) in almost a year. I hate to say that because I’d love to support them … but, I’m not taking chances … and honestly, their food has never been worth the price (except for the pizza) … Covid or not.
Last spring I was obsessed with Covid. As in OBSESSED with the daily tallies. I kept a log … the Corona Chronicles … and kept tabs on the cases and new death totals around the globe. At the end of January there were 6 cases in the US … at the end of February, there were 68 cases and 1 death. March exploded with 207,000 cases and over 4800 deaths. I quit keeping tabs on things sometime in April. I just couldn’t do it anymore. It was too sad … too terrifying. And I know I wasn’t the only one who was thinking … Am I next?
Thankfully, our family has been very fortunate. So many others have not.
This past Monday, February 22, 2021 … we reached that horrific and unbelievable milestone of 500,000 dead in the US from Covid-19. In less than a year we lost more than all the US lives lost in WWI, WWII and Vietnam – combined. Most of us don’t know what 500,000 of anything looks like. It’s a hard concept to grasp. I know what 1 person looks like – the space that person takes up … but half a million bodies?
If you were to stack 500,000 humans, head to toe, that line would reach from the Earth to the moon. And BACK again. Even that is hard to fathom as not many of us know how far away the moon is.
The US is roughly 3000 miles from the east to the west coasts. Roughly. A mile is 5280 feet. Taking the average person (male and female combined) = 5’6″. Let’s, for ease, say the average is 6 feet. If we were to lay out 500,000 people, head to toe, from coast to coast … we’d have to do it 2,640,000 times … 2 MILLION, 640 THOUSAND times. Statistically that is staggering.
But even that is hard to get a handle on. Let’s say we drove that distance … driving 1000 miles a day … it would take a person 3 days to drive from coast to coast. In order to make that trip 2,640,000 times – one would need to drive 17 hours each day for 7,920,000 days. Or, broken down into years … roughly 21,700 YEARS. Taking into account that rounding up, the average American lives 80 years … that would be just about 272 lifetimes. Horrific.
But if you take the math elements out of the equation … we are talking about PEOPLE. Cherished loved ones … brothers and wives and husbands and parents … best friends and sisters and favorite aunts … beloved grandparents. And sweet, innocent children. Lives lost – cut short. Agony. Fear. Loneliness. Despair … for so many. The loss is unfathomable. It is too, too much to bear. I am not the only one who has a heavy heart with this gruesome reality.
I thought of typing out 500,000 “hugs and kisses” (x and o) … but realized that would take me days to do. So, here are a few …
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo … that’s just 500. Now, I can cut and paste or duplicate that another 1000 times … or we can simply realize that is a huge number. Huge. Gigantic. Enormous.
I know some of you who are reading this have lost a dear friend, a parent, a brother or someone dear to you … my heart is with you and I am so sorry. It is and has been so devastatingly awful for so many families. Losing a loved one is never an easy thing. But this all has seemed so unnecessary. So cruel.
But, along with the pain that this virus has inflicted … we cannot forget WHY this happened … and must make sure this never happens again (as much as we are able).
The ineptitude of this country’s past leadership was largely at fault. This never should have been politicized. Never – ever. But, also, the American people need to take some responsibility for their actions and for these horrific numbers … and for those that continue to get infected and get sick … and those that succumb to this virus. I know I’m singing to the choir here – but it is through us, our voices, if we keep saying, “Mask up! Be physically distant! Wash your hands!” … and DO those things … and have some common sense so that maybe someone will also do those things that they might not otherwise. I hope. Because this virus is still raging. And we all know that some idiot politicians will say it’s okay to lift the restrictions and unmask way before it is safe and socially conscionable to do so.
The vaccine is getting into the arms of many of us … (my 92 year old mom among them) but for many, WAY too many, it is already too late. It’s a horrible thing – this virus … and the mutations that keep occurring. I keep thinking of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I hear about the mutations. I wish it were as simple as pizza-eating, crime-fighting reptiles. But it’s not. It’s not funny. And, I find it downright scary.
I hate this time in our lives. And even though I have not been THAT impacted … (I can’t travel and see my mom/kids/family/friends … oh, woe is me. Such awfulness! Hardly!) … it’s put a crimp in my lifestyle and my attitude in general. Yeah – my income has been impacted – but I’m okay. I don’t have any worries of homelessness or food or job insecurities and all the angst that go hand in hand with those issues and others. I am so, so fortunate.
As are most of us.
Except there is that heartache … from knowing someone who lost their life or a loved one to this very ghastly disease or just hearing the continual climbing numbers of deaths over the months of this past year. We all feel it. Some more than others. But, we all feel it.
500,000 Americans have lost their lives in less than a year. How many more? Where will the numbers stop? WHEN will the numbers stop?
I know we are all so very exhausted with how “things” are – still. But, we need to keep going along … be patient a little longer. The tide is turning.
In the meantime … Mask up! Be physically distant! Wash your hands! Be safe! Get the vaccine when you can. Any vaccine is better than no vaccine. Get it.
Look out for yourself. Look out for each other. Let love and kindness and science lead us through this gruesome reality.