Keeping Covid Vivid

​I thought I would write about some of my memories of these times while they’re fresh in my mind. Years from now, my memory might not be as good as it is now. Also, over time some details get lost.
 
I haven’t posted anything in a while. You would think that staying at home I would have plenty of time to write. But no. I went over a month not writing anything- nothing in this blog, nothing in the blog on my business site, nothing else. I think I was just too overwhelmed with the pandemic. I’ve been following the numbers of people infected and dead on the tracker on the Johns Hopkins website. Perhaps that much death, while not overtly affecting me did impact me subconsciously.
 
I have started writing again as you can tell. I think what brought me out of it was my writing group. We all took a class together at the Loft in 2014 and have been getting together twice a month since then to check in with each other about how we’re doing with writing. At one of our virtual meetings I was talking about not writing. I think putting it into words made me realize that I should start again. That and the support I got from the group.
 
As the scope of the pandemic became clear in the US, there was a run on toilet paper. People were worried about running out and once it became a thing people started hoarding it. I wasn’t worried about that. I was more worried about food and water. Not to panic, but what if they ran out? Should I plant a garden? However, if I did that it would end up feeding the rabbits in my area. So, I guess if food becomes scarce, I’ll just have to use some of my homebrew as trade.
 
One of the reasons I didn’t worry about toilet paper is because I was stocked up. I usually buy paper products (TP, Kleenex, paper towels) in bulk. Target seemed to run specials, like get a five-dollar gift card if you buy twenty-five dollars of paper products, whenever I’d be low on something. And when you live alone twenty-five dollars’ worth of toilet paper goes a long way.
 
I usually store my overflow in the garage to keep it out of the way. But when reports of people hoarding started to come out, I decided I didn’t want people driving by when my garage door was open to think I was a hoarder. I moved everything inside to Andrew’s room, since he’s gone there’s some space available.
 
The last weekend before the stay at home order took effect, I had my kids over for dinner since I might not get to see them for a while. Alicia and Carlos were there. Andrew came along with his girlfriend Karli, who I hadn’t met yet. Of course, while they were here, Andrew and Karli went up to his bedroom. Later I realized that they must have seen the stack of paper products in his room and thought I was hoarding.
 
I’ll try to get back to my old schedule of posting every other week now that I’m back on track.