The Long Winter

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The pandemic started here at the beginning of March. Things were just beginning to green up a bit and the days were beginning to get a little longer. At that time, we handled our changing lifestyle well. We live in a rural area and love working outside. We began social distancing and wearing masks, quit going in stores unless absolutely necessary, did not go to restaurants, and limited our contacts to close family members. We didn’t know anyone personally who was affected by the disease. Since we are both retired and our incomes were not in jeopardy, we did not face the economic difficulties that some did. Now, after months of living in this increasingly difficult time, it’s getting harder, even for us. Now we personally know people affected by the disease and families who are in economic distress. We still feel blessed that we have not personally been too adversely affected. We’re still healthy and have everything we need. But as the days get shorter, the weather gets colder, and we see the suffering around us, it gets harder. And it is even more difficult when we see others around us not following the guidelines thus making the recovery for all of us more difficult. A few weeks from now will be the shortest day of the year, which means that nights come earlier. Then the days will start getting longer. We’ll probably have the first batch of vaccines to be delivered. And not too long after that will have a new administration, a competent one. So even though things seem bleak right now, I’m feeling a lot more hopeful about the future of this country. I think we’ll have a few very difficult months to go through, but we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. How fast the recovery comes depends on how cooperative the American people are in working toward a common good.