Serious for Once

Observatatin' from my senior apartment...

Some of you on my friends list know me well. Some know me not at all. Some I wonder how in the hell you got here since you've probably never read any of my books or followed my blogs.

Well, know this. I am an author. I am known for having an odd outlook on life, and I will joke about anything and everything. When I broke my neck, I was joking about it to hospital staff.

When a doctor was checking me for a concussion, he said "Squeeze my finger." I responded "Oh no, I'm not falling for that one again."

That is who I am and what I do. It explains some of the weird posts you see.. Especially when I try to kickstart my writing so I can get back to my book.

But for once, I want to be serious.

These are trying times for all of us. In my almost seventy years on this planet, I have never seen anything like this. Businesses closed. People laid off. Quarantines. Social distancing.

It is times like this that bring out the worst in people, like the toilet paper hoarders (sorry. that slipped in).

But it also brings out the best in people.

I was in a convenience store the other day. An old friend came in (didn't see me) and went to the TP shelf. It was empty, except for two rolls. He took one. Let that sink in.

I now live in my old hometown. It is a small, tight-knit community. Younger people on our FB page are offering to run errands for us elderly folks. They don't need to do that. They could just hunker down themselves, but they're reaching out to people who might need help. Going out is added risk to them. More exposure to the coronavirus. Yet they offer.

My senior apartment complex has basically shut down. They will not permit visitors. The common area is closed. We seniors are not to get within six feet of any of their employees. We are asked to stay in our apartments. It sounds like house arrest. It is not.

They aren't imposing these rules out of spite or anything, but are doing it for our own protection. If Covid-19 ran through here, a good ten or twenty of us could die. You have to be at least 62 to live here. At close to 70, I'm one of the youngest. Contracting the coronavirus is dangerous to anyone, but especially us.

A crisis like this brings out the worst in some people, but I believe it brings out the best in most people.

And now, time to stop being serious and to get back to being myself.