Keep Calm and Carry on.

Easier said than done at any given minute of the day right now, given the global state of affairs.  This is serious.  Really, really serious.  Deadly.  And let me predicate this by saying:

1.   HUGE thanks and undying love to all the first-responders out there who are actively putting themselves in harm’s way on the daily, in the name of the greater good.
2. Thank you, thank you, thank you to whatever fates/divine intervention decided to give the Province of BC Dr. Bonny Henry.  She is a rock, an ocean of calm, and a steadying force in these times.
3. For the LOVE of EVERYTHING, please self-isolate and stay home for the next two weeks.  Please.

 

I check in with myself during the day, and I have finally identified the strange, disembodied flutter in the pit of my stomach:   terror.  I am quietly terrified.  I am OCD and tend toward anxious over-thought at the best of times, however these are extraordinary times.    We are small business owners with a small crew we feel very responsible for.  We have two school-aged children, who (reading between the lines) will not see a formal classroom again until September.   We have a mortgage and bills that continue.

Notwithstanding, we are on the lucky end of things:  we have full (not hoarding-full, but full) cupboards, we have the ability to feed the family and keep the lights on.  Our business is deemed an essential service.  We are exempt from a lot of the freefall that is occurring in the restaurant, travel and entertainment sector.

I think of my Grandmother a lot.  She turns 97 next week and served in the RAF as a Wren.  She experienced the shortages, empty shelves and rationing that we are seeing now.  I spoke with her today.  She said “You’ll get through it.”

She is right.  Our generation has no experience with limits, but we can and will adapt.  We will adapt our lifestyle to this temporary lock down.  We will adapt our socialization to tech check-ins via WhatsApp or FaceTime.  We will cook our meals according to what is available, and celebrate, truly celebrate when we are once again able to be together in close quarters with our friends and neighbours, casually, if not blithely living.  We will look different, we will feel different, and we will remember, but yes, we will get through it.

In the meantime,

Keep calm and wash your hands.