Picture this: you’re a little, old grandma, doing your little, old grandma thing. Maybe you just got done playing bridge or bingo with all your friends down at the senior center and you’re regaling your house-bound husband with tales of that mean old cow, Cheryl, who stole your place in the last cakewalk or something. You scroll through Facebook, catching up with friends and family, liking a picture of your grandchild on the beach. They’ve captioned it, “#coronacation.”
Kids really do say the darndest things.
Flash-forward a week, your grandchild has stopped by to visit. You’ve made their favorite dinner and they spend a happy evening waxing poetic over the beautiful, exotic locale they’ve spent the past couple of days in. They scroll through pictures on their phone, which they graciously hand over to you so that you can hold it at a comfortable length to see the screen. At the end of the night, you and your husband see them off, sending them away with plenty of leftovers and hugs.
Flash-forward two more weeks. Your grandchild came down with some sort of flu and was a bit under the weather for a few days. Their parents, your children, keep calling to make sure you and your husband haven’t caught whatever bug they had, but you shrug off their concern. You lived through a war, you know. A war, a recession, and more than your fair share of ailments. This is no different from the last big flu that came around, the one with the pigs, and you’ll get through it just as you got through that one.
Your husband coughs, from the other room. A spring cold, that’s all. Still, you worry.
Flash-forward two more weeks. Your husband is dead. You’re in the hospital. Things are not looking good.
While this seems like an extreme scenario, it is all too possible in today’s world. Practicing safe social distancing is incredibly important right now, and while it may seem like a good idea to take advantage of the current low cost of traveling, one must consider the possible repercussions. While many people our age may not be severely affected by COVID-19, we are prime candidates for spreading the virus. Traveling under these conditions can have drastic and devastating consequences. We all ought to take a moment to consider the far-reaching potential effects of the choices we make in these crazy times.
