Ever since the beginning of “Shelter at home”, I’ve been doing just that, going to shop only at designated “old/people at risk” shopping hours.

Last week, I had several errands to run. Just simple things really; bank, drug store, gas.

Well it was pretty much the first time I’d driven “in town” in quite a while, since the place I shop is on the highway.

I don’t know what I had been thinking since this all began, but I did find that it was a very eerie thing to drive by places of business, health, and entertainment, to see the parking lots empty, or with only one or two vehicles, skeleton crew, and to know how empty they all were.

Seeing these shots on TV, from places far away, and then seeing them in your own town; are two very different things.

I don’t know what or how I expected to feel, and said so to my husband when I returned home. 

He has spent much of his time making deliveries to those places that help the food critical people.

He had never mentioned this to me until I brought it up. 

Then today I was listening to a podcast that was discussing this very issue.

I had not heard of the guest, except maybe in passing, but he had this to say;

“I feel the pain of the emptiness; I don’t feel the solace of the moment.” Brian Kilmeade

Wow, right to the heart of things.

Saying in one statement, what I could not say in a full paragraph.

Which brings me to this; My opinion.

People have surely lost their lives to this virus. My heart breaks for the families of those left behind.

Lives and much more have been lost.

Literally no one on the planet has been immune to this loss.

But here’s the thing;

We did what they asked, we stayed home, we washed our hands, we covered our faces, and many have lost their livelihoods, their homes and their sanity.

For those whose homes are not safe places, the ability to have a few safe hours each day have been lost.

Students have missed out on graduations and celebrations.

Our “Essential” workers i.e. Healthcare workers, law enforcement, fire fighters, retail workers, truck drivers, trash collectors, pest control workers, and a plethora of others are under unimaginable strain to keep the rest of us healthy, fed and cared for.

Many of these are things we don’t even consider, until we don’t have them.

(Let’s begin to appreciate them more!)

Can we come back out to play now?

Life is always a risk. We are aware.

We would rather do this thing together; and not alone in our homes.

Now coming from a “Dyed in the wool Introvert”, that’s quite a statement.

So many necks to hug, and six feet is too far to do it from.

Until next time …