The Corona Chronicles: Chapter 2

I've been cycling through the 5 stages of grief for the past week and a half. I think I've gone on that ride at least 8 times. It reminds me of a broken Ferris wheel, slowly rotating -- and then suddenly dropping, spinning out of control for a few seconds before the mechanics are able to right themselves.

A couple months ago I was thinking about institutions that had gone away semi-recently: Fabric Depot, the Village Inn restaurant by the freeway, the nearby auction house... all closed and shuttered with the past year or two. And I started to think... what other places would I really, really miss, were they to close forever? I made a mental list: Fred Meyer, Panera, Powell's, Black Bear Diner, Bricks & Minifigs....

Now, nearly everything's closed. Some places will reopen eventually, we hope. But in the meantime, I find myself missing just... being able to go.

I miss estate sales, even though I haven't been to one since at least last summer.

I miss the bins. The thrill of the treasure hunt. 

I miss things that haven't even (not) happened yet. Things that were supposed to happen, but have been preemptively cancelled... like BrickCan, Vancouver B.C.'s yearly LEGO convention. The summer trip my mom and I were planning. More things, too, I'm sure. 

I do have reasons to be grateful, and I try to focus on those things. I have a home. Currently there are no pets here, which is not to my liking. (My sweet Riker cat passed away in February.) But we have a lot of food. We might run out of toilet paper, but if our ancestors survived without it, I suppose we can as well. I still have some "nature" to escape to, in my garden. Thank goodness I can still go outside.

The libraries are closed, but I own a ton of books, many unread.

The movie theaters are closed, but I have Netflix, Youtube, and a case of DVDs.

(It turns out quarantine is a great time to 

build LEGO... and make videos about it!)

Goodwill is closed, but I have a backlog of vintage magazines, photo albums, and scrapbooks I can pore through and post here.

The schools are closed, but...

Ummm...

As an assistant teacher, I'm not sure what my future looks like. It appears as though the classroom teachers in our district are prepping to do some kind of distance teaching. But they have their own email list, and assistants aren't privy to a lot of the information that gets passed around between them. Some emails from the administrators have hinted that we'll get more information in a few days.

I think I would be okay with distance learning. Now that we're not allowed to give hugs, not being physically near the kids only has an upside: none of the noise.

(Thursday, 3/26)

My mother's apathy toward the need for social distancing continues. There are articles being written about her generation's response to the virus, and it appears that I am not alone in dealing with a parent who thinks nothing can touch her. She's survived 60+ years on this planet, and nobody is going to tell her what's best for her, no ma'am!

I  had to convince her that neither of us needed to go to Fred Meyer to buy elastic so she could sew masks for everyone she knows.

She was able to make about ten masks with the elastic she had on hand. She insisted on sending some masks to her grandchildren. Instead of putting the package in the mailbox, she insisted on driving to a public box where she could drop it off.

Okay.

She needed to deliver tax documents to her CPA. I offered to scan & email them, but she wouldn't have it. She drove all the way to their office and put things in a drop box.

Okay.

A package came for a lady a few blocks away whose house number is the same as ours. I suggested we write "misdirected" on the package and put it back in our mailbox. My mother wants to go deliver it to the neighbor. Ring the doorbell, explain the situation, everything. She got upset when I told her this was not a good plan.

She wants to go to the Franz Bakery outlet a few blocks away to get bread. We have bread in the freezer. We have plenty of other food. But no, she wants fresh Franz bread, and she wants it now. I said, You know, we have the supplies to make our own bread. She angrily replied that we can't; we have no yeast. NO YEAST.

It baffles me how she could basically survive quarantining herself for the past  8 days (save for those trips to her CPA's office and the mailbox) and then lose her cool over the need for Cinnamon Swirl.

She's angry at me for imposing "rules" on her, but the longer this goes on, the less I care about her getting sick, and the more I keep thinking of how ticked I'm going to be if she gets me sick.

I'm suddenly reminded how I used to nanny for a family where the dad was a smoker. At first I used to worry about his family's health. He had three young kids, and one had asthma. But he was addicted, and the smoking continued. I'd come home from nannying and have to throw my clothes in the wash, because after a few hours in their house, my clothes always reeked. This eventually got to be too much, and I resigned. I had given up the idea that the dad might get a clue and, for his kids' sake, quit smoking. He couldn't quit. So I quit them.

I'm also reminded of my grandma. A few years ago, she came to live with us. After she had a stroke, the family decided this was for the best. She did not like having to live in somebody else's home. She wanted to do all the things she was used to doing, which was totally understandable, but it did create some tension. A year or so later, after she fell and broke her neck, things got even more complicated. She seemed especially peeved that she was not allowed to go up and down the stairs anymore without someone being with her. She'd exclaim that she used to go up and down a dozen stairs at her house with no help at all! This was a very important point for her. She had proved herself capable of climbing stairs in the past; therefore, she should be free to do this herself now. She couldn't wrap her  mind around the fact that circumstances had changed.

I think my mom might be going through something similar. I used to go to the bread store whenever I felt like it -- why should that change now? Uh, maybe he fact that someone who has been exposed to the virus might already be at the bread store, or was there yesterday, or whatever? Ha! What are the odds? There are only X number of Corona cases in Oregon right now. How many of those people could have possibly been to the BREAD STORE?

The more she acts this way, the more annoyed I get. The more annoyed I get, the less I want to be around her. The less I'm around her, the more she seeks out alternative forms of socialization. Which, in her case, will probably result in her inviting friends over.

So I take deep breaths and try to act pleasant.


(Friday, 3/27)

TV has gotten weirder, if you can believe it.

All the pre-taped shows are, of course, carrying on as usual. Cops and forensic experts, lawyers and firefighters, thieves and murderers, etc. are noticeably NOT practicing social distancing. The only thing that remains constant is the coughing. Whenever someone coughs on a TV drama, there are two, and only two, possible reasons: Smoke inhalation or acute Tuberculosis. (Maybe in a few months we'll see Corona in there.)

The news is all Corona, all the time.

TV taped daily, or live, has become a televised videoconferencing call for the masses. My mother is currently watching Live With Kelly & Ryan. Ryan's on one screen, Kelly's on another, and when a guest makes an appearance, they appear on another. The interviews go on much the same as they ever did, minus laughter from the audience. Even so, their familiar faces and voices are comforting. They may be in a different location, but their goal remains the same: to keep us entertained.


Until next time... stay healthy, stay home...

Stay cool.