A Pandemic Update

G and I haven’t written anything lately.  Of course, this blog is pretty much finished.  We have told you everything we know.  We hope it helps some of you be happier.  

G and I are hanging tight out here on the farm as the pandemic swirls around us.  I buy groceries and household goods on-line and a very nice store employee places them in the back of the car for us.  It isn’t nearly as much fun as walking the aisles and browsing but it is safer.  I get fresh eggs and some produce from the local Farmer’s Market – which is outside and almost everyone wears a mask.  We have planted tomatoes in one of G’s flower beds because I can’t imagine going through a summer without real heirloom tomatoes.  

G badly needs a new hip and we were close to getting that done during the brief period when the infamous “curve” was flattened and hospital capacity was better.  Then, we held a pre-surgery meeting with her Orthopedist to finalize the date for the surgery and to ask last-minute questions.  Unfortunately,  the doctor walked into the little exam room without a mask on.  We sat there breathing his aerosols for 10 – 15 minutes (which seemed like hours) before we just left…never to return.

So, now, we’re facing a brutal resurgence of the virus and looking for another Orthopedist – one who believes in science.  Disappointing.  And, for G, very painful.  The American medical system is a joke.  A very expensive joke.     

Of course, the pandemic isn’t the only thing that is swirling around us.  The Black Lives Matter movement is on the streets, even in the small town 20 miles away where we get groceries and supplies.   Protesters have targeted an ugly Civil War Memorial Statue outside the courthouse.  Its unusual – and more than a little brave – for any progressive movement to show its face in our little town so, maybe, a few protesters a good sign.  

I was born and raised in the segregated American South.  I was a racist the first 17 years of my life.  Fortunately, the civil rights movement came along when I was a rebellious teenager and I had a wonderful aunt who helped me put that shit behind me.  Even so, living in the south and knowing what racism looks, feels and smells like, I have had to deal with it all my life.  It is all around us, here.  The conservative movement has brought it out into the open and made it bolder and more aggressive but, make no mistake, it has been here all along.  .

And it has not been kind to my southland.  We are, statistically less healthy, less well-educated, more superstitious and poorer than the rest of the US.  It is not coincidence that the Corona Virus is finding its most fertile grounds here.  Our stores and churches, restaurants and beaches are filled with people who believe wearing a mask is a liberal political statement.  

And, of course, we face all this with absolutely no leadership in Washington.  

G and I know we might not make it through this.  We are old and vulnerable.  Our daughter and her family live two hours away in their own isolation.  But we have each other.  G is frightened, as she should be.  She is also very tender-hearted, very loving.  We touch more.  We enjoy closeness more.  We have sex more.  

I take lawn chairs out into the meadow near the house every evening.  She rides our lawn tractor out and we sit and watch the fireflies work the hedgerows and the tree-line as the sun goes down.  We hope you are doing well through this and that we will all soon have a vaccine that can allow us to return to some form of normalcy.  We also hope that you guys are enjoying each other – emotionally, intellectually, artistically and sexually.  Take care of yourselves.