7) I can see my Grand Daughter; From a Distance (there is harmony)

June 12, 2020  
Friday

Continuing with the New Normal: So, just as I'm about to consider some safe ~as I can make them~ forays out into the world, Texas news is all about the spike in Texas COVID-19 cases.  So I call my dermatologist's office and cancel my appointment for this week.
As we are making plans for ways to protect ourselves and get tested so we might be able to have a medically & politically correct visit with my first grand daughter on Father's Day, it seems that the worries about moving through the troposphere without bumping into those ugly little corona viruses is getting more difficult.  We hoped that getting tested, AND wearing our masks, AND maintaining socially acceptable distance (accept when holding little Chloe) might be possible.  Now I am not so sure. 

This 'new normal' is so frustrating at times! We want to do what's right and healthy but it seems so out of alignment with our values of personal connection, family, and hugging little babies close.  I, for one, am not used to being unable to do what I want; especially when looking out my window or driving down the road, it seems like its still the old normal out there... well, except there is a lot less traffic. 

My anger is at the powers that be that I really have no sense of control over: like the president who pulled funding for the PREDICT early warning program two months before the coronavirus started in Wuhan, China.  This project, started in 2009, worked to train and support scientists who identified to 1200 various viruses that had potential to burst into pandemics. That anger is compounded by the current administration's continuing strategies related to de-funding science, medical advancements, and climate change work, without regard to the results these policies have on the public good.

As a result, we are sequestered at home, afraid to go out in public, unable to support local businesses that are dropping like flies, and constantly in a state of anxiety about the future. 

This whole thing is a darn shame! To keep the spirits up, I remind myself of that old Nanci Griffith's song... From a Distance

And so it goes...