COVIDMAN AND EXTENDED RETIREMENT

As the sun is about to rise in the East every morning, come rain or snow also, I find myself rising also, with nowhere to go and nothing to do. For months I was rising to visit my daughter at a hospital or nursing facility and getting there at 7:30 A.M. every morning and waiting for her breakfast to be served so I could feed her. I had to do this so she wouldn’t feel alone, and she took it in stride.

As I woke every morning, I wished that I wouldn’t need to do the routine anymor4, that she would finally heal and go home and I could sleep later and get back to a more normal routine that once existed. Oh, how I wished.

Then suddenly I was told that I needed to quarantine myself for the sake of my fellow countrymen. I wear a mask when out in public and try to stay a minimum of six feet from the nearest body in public. I only go out to the store occasionally or to sit in my car at the bay to watch the calm of the sea, the flight of the seagull, and to reminisce about days long past. I write as a matter of rote and draw on artistic skills sometimes. Cooking has become a challenge as I try to create new dishes and revive old ones from my grandmother and mother, comfort foods, and again, reminisce with a pan.

I look eagerly to hear from my sons that they are OK and hear their voices are nice, as is seeing my grandkids on Face Time. But with all this, I wonder if there is a metamorphosis that is occurring with me and for just about everyone else and everything?

I notice I now do a lot of dreaming, especially toward the morning and I remember the dreams vividly, something that rarely occurred for me. It seems every morning I recall the last dream and can carry it in my head most of the day, with flashbacks to it as the day progresses.

As I sit in my chair in the den there is an endless semiconscious viewing of the TV and the talking heads of MSNBC, CNN, and FOX NEWS. This is interspersed with Monk, Judge Judy, and Diagnosis Murder, salted with DVR taped Hogan’s Heroes. It is a tight schedule. I have mastered the art of Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and watch some quality programming such as Grant, The Amazing Mrs. Maisel, Billions, and The Last Tycoon.

Will restaurants ever return to the way I knew them once? Will the economy become modified so much so that the concepts we took for granted be forever changed? Will sports be played under a different set of venues? Do we now make our doctor’s visits with a new set of rules, will out temperature be somehow monitored daily as we go about our lives and seek help?