I keep asking myself, “Why would I even step outside my tent these days?” They say Covid is under control and the new variant is no big deal. Really? People are throwing their masks off, forgetting social distance rules, and the worst part is not washing their hands! Yuk! Eww! And double yuk! Because our leaders did not initiate proper precautions, we found ourselves in a lockdown situation. And now, with vaccinations, everyone has decided it is business as usual, which means winter could be another lockdown. I am sure that my proud and bold Americans will bully on through, independent and belligerent to the end. By the way, the numbers are going back up.
Yep, it is time to put the flap back down.
I don’t know whether it was a bat or a governmental rat that allowed Covid 19 to encompass the world. What I do know is the world woke from a sleepy slumber in January 2020 and found itself at war. Not sure if this is how we imagined our next world war, but this is how it came to us. Covid is the new invasive, silent enemy paralyzing nations in a dark world of disease, death, and fear. As our leaders, scientists, and medical communities began developing plans of action and pharmaceutical weapons to combat this unknown factor, we waited, watching death hover over us and stealing our loved ones. But, we soon realized that Covid does not discriminate!
In 2020 medical battlefronts were being frantically established across the world. Our brave healthcare workers and the behind-the-scenes workers like environmental care, morgues, and gravediggers with their PPE apparel, began their grievous tasks of trying to save lives, give dignity to the dying and not become sick themselves. So you can find Pandemic truth among our frontline workers, not the six o’clock news.
During this stressful time, so many questions encompassed my mind in the beginning. How were we to fight this invisible enemy? And could we conquer it? Or would the world and America’s landscape be forever changed? My mind raced with questions and questions, building my anxiety levels because those in charge appeared more like educated guessers than knowledgeable Scientists, Doctors, and Leaders.
My confidence plummeted when realizing what this disease could do, hit home hard, especially our home. My husband is the only healthy person in our house, and the words “high-risk” now had a new meaning. I have the auto-immune disease Wegeners/GPA along with the six other conditions it has created over the past forty-eight years. And if that was not enough on my plate, our twenty-five-year-old son started exhibiting arthritic and chronic fatigue symptoms when he was twenty. The doctors are still trying to diagnose him with either the Wegeners, Beschets, or a variation of other diseases. Treatments had to be paused, virtual doctor visits were needed, and quarantining meant staying inside our house.
Me being me, I began to consider how much red duct tape it would take to wrap around my house. And an obtrusive, large warning sign stating, “High-Risk Zone, Stay Away!” in the front yard. Or we could place barbed wire across our front yard with the sign “Beware, Explosive Situation!” I seriously thought about the extremes it might take to keep us safe. Maybe not the duct tape or the barbed wire, but the distancing, hygiene to the extreme, mask and glove-wearing IF we were to go out.
I kept reminding myself that God is in control and wore my knees out praying for our family and others who had their family members serving or were already sick.
Maybe I can lift my flap a little bit.
To be continued…
The Tent Maker Blog 