Hello From Coronaville

Since Valentines Day life has really changed and sometimes I think it is a dream.  Going out the house to get groceries is exhausting and the fear of getting Covid-19 is like playing Russian roulette.  We don't know where Covid-19 is hiding and everyone is a potential carrier of the virus.  My husband and I are doing our best to uphold staying at home.   There have been times when we must go out to get food and essentials.  We have discussed who should go out and we weighed our health issues and I felt he was in greater danger than I with his health history.  However this virus does not discriminate and I and everyone else has become a germaphobe.

There is so much info floating around about how to protect yourself.  It is like lining up ten doctors and getting a different opinion from each one.  Should I wear a mask and gloves or not ?  Should I follow the government guidelines ?  Talk about confusion and of course I am now in the age group of the most vulnerable.   We are told to stay at home as a prisoner and let others grocery shop for us.  I ask who is doing that. We tried the curbside pickup service at one grocery store 2 weeks ago.  That cost us some money.  Too many fees and too many substitutions and we ended up with charged missing items and one bunch of bananas that cost us seven dollars.  Took me two days to get a hold of someone in returns to tell me that they were not crediting our charge card due to current circumstances.  It was a twenty dollar loss for us.  Now as of yesterday grocery stores are no longer doing curbside pickup in our area probably due to a lack of employees.   Thank goodness I have some food to last us awhile.

I am going to share what happens when I do get brave enough to go to the store.  I get up at 6am and get dressed and arrive at the store at 7am.  From 7am -8am is for seniors only, as a police officer stands at the door to make sure your old.   I decided to wear what I feel comfortable to protect myself.  I wear my winter gloves which I wash every time I go out. There are no gloves to buy as they were either hoarded or sent to the hospital.  I will not complain as our medical professionals need them.  I also wear a mask that I made.  I have been told that they are not necessary,  but they make me feel a little better and they remind me not to touch my face. I also wear my eyeglasses to give protection to my eyes.   I never take the gloves off even at the register.  I found that I can still cash out with my debit card and press the keypad with gloves on.  As I work my way to the car I remove the gloves and put them in a bag and proceed to put groceries in the back of the car.  I then get in the car use hand sanitizer that someone was nice enough to give us as no store for hundreds of miles has any.  I then remove my mask and wipe my keys and steering wheel with a disinfectant wipe.   Upon arriving at home shoes are left in the garage and groceries are put in the laundry room.  I remove my clothes and put them in washer along with the gloves and mask and then I shower.  It sounds probably extreme,  but I learned years ago as a nurse to do this and if that is what it takes to protect me, my husband, and dad then so be it.  I also clean my debit card off.  Some of the groceries get cleaned off if feasible and some are left to sit for a couple days in hopes that the virus dies.

I also know that no matter how careful we are that sometimes we get caught.  I know that no disease discriminates and life is a gamble.  We take our chances but I am trying my best to protect myself and two of the best guys I know. They are my husband and dad who will be 90 years old in 10 days.  My dad laughs as I always have my mask on when I visit him and we stay 6 feet from each other.  I do his shopping and I am the only one who is allowed in his house.  He has been a trooper quarantining himself for 3 weeks.  I do however worry about how long one can go without socialization and I encourage him to go outside and visit at a 10 foot distance with neighbors.  He gets two calls a day from my brother and me.

I can't tell how long we can keep this up as I have already cried because I can't see my kids or grandchildren.  Video calling is alright, but not being able to hug grandkids sucks.  My daughter surprised me with a visit.  We stood in the yard and talked to her and my grandson as they sat in the car.  Of course I cried as my grandson kept putting has arms out for me to hold him.  How do you explain to an 18 month old that grandma and grandpa can't touch them.  This seems to be our new normal and for how long is a big question mark.

I remind myself everyday that I made it through 7 months away from home in 2011 as my husband went through cancer treatment.  I look for the light at the end of the tunnel.  I know this time I am not alone.  We are all in this together.

We will continue to stay at home to slow the spread and say a pray every night for all the healthcare workers, EMTs, police, government  and all essential workers that are trying to help us get through this difficult time.  May God bless all of us and give us the strength to overcome this virus.

P.S. Wash your hands!!!!!

Life is beautiful !
Elizabeth❤

Happy Valentine's Day 2020!

The sun finally came out today after a long absence.  It has been like gloom and doom for about the last six weeks.  Winter has finally showed its' ugly presence with snow and ice along with wind and single digit temperatures.  The countdown until spring is on and I have a feeling it is going to be late.  The seasons have shifted and the gray skies have left the mood here dismal.

January seemed to last forever and it was unkind to my husband and I.  We suffered through a bout of Norovirus that took the wind out of our sails.  As we grow older it gets a little harder to recover.  I have been hibernating and have been out only for groceries and one luncheon with friends.  The fear of getting another illness such as the flu haunts us.  The schools have closed a couple of times to try and slow the spread.  So much for our flu shots which seemed to be ineffective this year.

I was at the store today looking at flowers trying to imagine what summer feels like.  There were a lot people picking up Valentine gifts.  My gift is food for the soul.  It is always a pleasure to cook for my husband.  He enjoys the food and so do I.

This year has brought higher health insurance cost and medication prices still increasing.  I am hoping for the sake of all of us that the government will pass something to lower the cost.  My heart always aches when people can't afford their meds.

We attended a seminar last night about getting the most from social security and the new changes.  Overall consensus is high cost of healthcare and insurance if you retire before 65.  There are not many companies these days that will pay for insurance if you retire before 65.  We fall into that category.  Cobra is very expensive.  The advice to young people working is to plan not only for supplementing social security but start a fund for medical expenses if you want to retire early.  Hopefully by the time our children retire their will be a better system in place for affording healthcare.

I need to look at something beautiful to get through the rest of this gloomy weather.

                                                     Happy Valentines Day !!

Life is beautiful !!
Elizabeth :)