– Dorn’s self-isolation journal day 7 (3/22/2020).
t’s getting harder to think of anything funny to write about each day. We’re pretty well stocked up, we’ve canceled all our upcoming doctor’s and other appointments, and are resigned to spending days or weeks here if needed. (We haven’t traveled anywhere dangerous lately, so this isn’t a quarantine that ends in 14 days. Our isolation is open-ended.)
Cabin fever is starting to set in, and from our window we watch the sporadic cars drive to the world beyond Long Beach Drive with envy, and not a little curiosity. What is so urgent that it’s forcing them to face the contagion of the big city? Medicines, food, just the need for physical proximity to other humans? But I’ve got to maintain my Safe Distance, so I don’t even have an opportunity wave them down and ask them. Especially without pants on. (Thanks for that coping tip, Scott!)
Our news comes from the TV and the internet, and they only seem to report on one topic now: the coronavirus. The news seems more dire each day. Even beyond the medical issues, this is going to have a terrible economic effect, especially among people who don’t have an adequate safety net.
We feel we should help, but how? Keep patronizing local places of work, maybe, so the businesses don’t have to lay off people, or worse, go under? But that’s near impossible when those workplaces are closing precisely because we must all social-distance! The same thoughts must be occurring to a lot of people, because internet stories on how you can help, even if fully quarantined, have started to pop up. Here’s one.
https://forge.medium.com/what-you-can-actually-do-to-help-right-now-91afb961cdca
Fortunately (for this post), I checked in with my Dad this morning. He’s doing fine, but wanted to ask if he had missed Easter. He and I were both still plugged in enough to know today was Sunday, but beyond that I couldn’t help him. I suggested that if it really was Easter today, the TV would stop talking about the virus long enough to mention it, so it probably hadn’t happened yet.
I confessed that I couldn’t be sure, because my trips to the grocery store had become so rare that I couldn’t assess whether the jelly bean stocks had all been depleted, or if the remainder had gone on 75%-off sale yet. So not only did I not have any jelly beans, but I couldn’t gauge exactly where we were in the canonical cycle. He said that he had a huge store of jelly beans, of just the kind he liked best (jet black!).
“Hoarder!” I cried.
“No, no, it wasn’t me!” he pleaded. “My granddaughter A— bought them for me! SHE’S the hoarder!”
(note to self: don’t tell my Dad about any crimes I plan on committing.)
HOARD-O-METER:
Good intentions
Toilet paper
Coffee
Pickles
Concrete helpful actions
Jelly beans
Velveeta
Thanks,
Dorn
3/22/2020
Day 6 Day 5 Day 4 Day 3 Day 2 Day 1