No, this post is not about a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. It’s about COVID and its effects upon our lives! To date, some 6.8 million people worldwide have died from this devil. There is some controversy about the accuracy of that number – as there is with everything – but the bottom line is – a LOT of people have died. Most survived this terrible virus – but some still suffer a number of side effects. It isn’t over yet – and I suspect it may be with us forever.
Millions of kids missed school during the Covid lockdowns – resulting in significant setbacks in their education and development of critical social skills. I feel sorry for them. I attended my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in 2019. Three years later I attended the younger granddaughter’s graduation. Hers was the first graduation ceremony held during those three years! None of the kids in between had a real-life graduation ceremony! My neighbor complained about her own grandkids to me, “They are so serious about social distancing, they won’t even call me.”
Covid caused businesses to close. Not just for a year or two – but for many – forever. Ironically, the Coronavirus achieved what no female has every been able to achieve. It cancelled sports events, closed the bars and kept men at home! The country became divided over whether to take the vaccine – and – which vaccine was the best. And on I rave – but I doubt any of this is news to you. Even young kids became upset about the Covid shutdowns – as depicted in this short YouTube video:
Face masks! Are they effective or not? I hear arguments from both sides. Masks also gave the couturier a new project to pursue! There were so many innovative new face mask designs! Some were scary, many were funny and a few were glamorous. Most of us just used the plain blue paper ones. They were ubiquitous! Those masks found their way around our houses, our cars, our pockets, purses and everywhere else. One clever friend opined, “If you have to wear glasses and a face mask at the same time because of Covid-19 you may be entitled to condensation.”
It was amazing how many “mask police” came forth! “Your mask isn’t covering your nose!” “You’re wearing the wrong type of mask!” I can’t recall other admonishments because I ignored them for the most part! People who were hearing impaired lost the benefit of lip reading. True, not all words are discernible by lip reading – but it sure helps! Besides – the mask muffles one’s voice. When mask mandates were finally lifted, some people I had only recently met looked completely different once their masks were off! Who were they? They didn’t look the same! They didn’t sound the same! Some actually looked better with a mask!
Some positive things resulting from Covid:
The neighbor and I had a bread-baking contest. If you were an alien and didn’t know what was going on you would definitely wonder about this strange activity. My phone would ring. “My bread will be ready in two hours. I will wrap it in paper, ring your doorbell, and leave it by your front door.” And so he would. And I would reciprocate by following the same procedure. There was no need to ask if we would be home! We were all quarantined.
While homebound, Hubby revived his latent stained glass skills. Many of the windows in our home are now colorful and very beautiful – and I was able to get rid of ugly, dust-gathering venetian blinds. So what if every now and then folks stop by and ask what time the church service starts? Just kidding, Hubby!
Many women discovered their hair was more attractive in its natural state than with the hair coloring they had been using pre-Covid. At my hair salon a lady was getting her attractive gray hair styled. Others in the shop commented about her beautiful hair. She exclaimed, “Thank the Covid shutdown for forcing me to grow out my natural hair color!”
My golfing husband remarked the other day, “Thanks to Covid – we don’t have to remove the flag while putting!” I agree with him. You no longer have to pull the pin, lay it down on the green, get dirt on yourself and replace it. Discussions about who is responsible for removing it – and putting it back in – aren’t necessary.
Doing things remotely on the internet became widespread. Playing bridge online was the big perk for me! I could play from home with people I liked – and with the occasional robots I didn’t have any feelings about one way or another. I didn’t have to worry about my appearance! I could sneak into the kitchen and grab a snack. I could use my own bathroom! And one more thing – I was able to analyze how others had played the same hand and see who was successful and who wasn’t!
Of course it was important to make sure the audio was on “mute” in case one made rude comments. One bridge player could never remember to turn his mute feature on. His comments weren’t always polite. Not only that – he kept snorting, burping, and blowing his nose! We reminded him frequently to no avail! As you know – if it isn’t one thing it’s another! Hubby could sometimes overhear us playing bridge. That was pretty much okay – until he remarked one day that the other players seemed to be much better at it than I was. Keep in mind he has never played bridge – nor plans to ever tackle this complex card game.
We saved a lot of money during the height of Covid. We couldn’t go anywhere! I didn’t have to get dressed up! As time went by, I became quite lax with my appearance. Yeah! No make-up – fewer showers – no new clothes. Of course, the day came when I caught a glance of myself in the mirror! I certainly wasn’t going to take a chance and ask, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” I don’t like cleaning up broken glass!
We no longer had to go to the doctor! We had e-visits instead. There was no angst about traffic while driving to the clinic. There was no anxiety about sitting in the waiting room as others nearby are coughing, choking and flushed with fever! There was no more sitting alone in the cold, bare examination room – waiting for the doctor to eventually come in!
I had a recent speakerphone visit with my doctor. Hubby happened to be in the same room. The next thing I knew he was on the phone call telling the doctor all of my ailments. She gave him her rapt attention! What? I couldn’t believe this was happening! I didn’t know all those things were wrong with me. The next thing I knew the doctor was ordering all sorts of blood tests! That was fine, but what took the cake was her ordering a CT Scan of my brain! Why would I possibly need that? The doctor explained, “You do seem to make complete sentences that are easy to understand.” I responded, “Yes, and I continue to write Roberta Raves!” “But,” she said, “that doesn’t mean you haven’t had a stroke!”
After the call, Hubby could tell I was a little put out over his interference with my doctor’s e-visit. He explained, “I just wanted to make certain the doctor had an accurate description of all of the symptoms I have heard you complain of recently.”
So I had the blood tests run. Turned out to be a good thing! My magnesium and iron levels were low and I am slightly anemic. Within a few days after taking the magnesium and iron pills – I’ve already started to feel much better. And then yesterday, Hubby drove me to get that CT Scan of my brain. I do appreciate this loving gesture – but he ruined it by asking me jokingly afterwards if they found anything in there when they did the scan!
Then I pondered – am I really that pitiful to need such support? Well, the official results will be known in a few days or more. I will let you know – that is – if I can remember!
Any personal comments or stories about Covid? Our readers love to hear from each other and your comments will never be published outside this website.
3 Comments
Yes, we were truly happy to take our 20-21 cruise even if we didn’t know where we were going. I did appreciate the protocol because I have terrible lungs & I am still a nervous Nellie. One vaccinated friend almost died from side effects brought on by Covid, it was a long recovery. I washed everything that came in my house! I won’t shake hands, etc.
My husband & I suffer hearing loss, so we had a big problem communicating with wearing masks in public but the plus side – I saved a lot on lipstick! Sweats & gym clothes became the daily uniform. I hate clothes shopping, so ordering those online was a plus. Pre-ordering from the grocery store & picking up in the parking lot became a novel plus for us!
Nope, I refused to do a Zoom dr. meeting. I masked up & got sprayed off at the entrance – I need a “hands on” visit! I finally got the car I ordered 2 years ago, because of “chip” shortages & delivery problems due to Covid. So I call our world right now “BC & AC”, Before Covid and After Covid. It sure has changed our world! And your hubby cracks me up!
Oops, that was the ’21-’22 cruise, maybe I should have a brain scan….results might be scary tho.
Oh, the impact Covid must have had on kids who can very impressionable. In the process of scaring the **** out of the public so we would follow “the science”, kids probably have lasting scars not to mention what they list by closing schools after the science telling us kids are not in the vulnerable population. The video of the kid describing shut downs reminded me of how I felt when we embarked on the World Cruise with you. It was so happy to be able to go anywhere, and we went everywhere!