When Will We Feel Safe?

I’ve spent a great deal of the last two months with Jamie and Claire of Outlander, in Scotland, then America in the 1700’s. When Corona virus stops being a scourge, I’m heading to Scotland because it’s beautiful and if even a fraction of the men are as handsome as the actor who plays Jamie Fraser, I’ll be very happy sightseeing.

I’m a sucker for shows that take place in Great Britain, especially period pieces with men in riding boots and women in suffocating corsets. There’s a lot of gratuitous sex, raping, pillaging, and violence in Outlander, but once you get past that, it’s mostly a love story. Maybe I find period pieces so interesting because no one ever says exactly what’s on their mind, for fear of impropriety, which is the exact opposite of how my mom approached things.

My couch potato status (see evidence on left) is proof I’m totally comfortable with this whole staying at home business, but I’m starting to branch out. I’ve now gotten together with one friend, socially distancing, of course. My son and I got together to make homemade Carbonara pasta on Mother’s Day and have learned to hug from behind, with our elbows, and eat on the front porch, six feet apart. We’ve gotten a little sloppy, though, forgot the masks a few times inside, so we’ll have to be more careful.

It’s probably because Corona Virus isn’t as scary for me now as it was. I’m hearing that from a lot of people. This is probably the worst possible thing because when people are afraid, they behave. When they’re not they take stupid chances. I still wear my mask when I’m out, and keep washing my hands. I haven’t eaten out in months and probably won’t. But I’m not running to the beach any time soon or flying anywhere yet.

What are you doing? Are you venturing out yet? Do you feel safe? Please take a second to tell me because I wonder whether you feel like I do.

I wonder when we’ll feel safe doing all the things we used to? What will the first concert be like? Will anyone go? Will people sit six feet apart? It feels so alien to me to face illness like this and feel so unsafe. Incurable sickness has always happened in third world countries, not here. I always thought we were so advanced, but Corona Virus has really leveled things.

So, what’s next? Will it become like the flu, with a new strain every year we have to be inoculated against? Or will it fade away? Will it be another hundred years before the next pandemic, or will it be sooner? Will we ever go back to the way things were, or will we like less traffic, less polluted air and being able to work from home so much that we change things? And will I even have a job in a few months? I’m trying not to stress out over things I can’t control, but it’s a little unsettling.

Especially because the next season of Outlander is delayed due to stinking Corona Virus.