On March 6th I returned to Washington DC from a three week trip to the UK and Iceland. I waltzed back into the US, blissfully happy after spending time researching a writing project in Scotland and spending my birthday enjoying stark beauty of Iceland, all the while secure in the knowledge that my next gig would start on Monday and I’d be set with work through the summer. What didn’t register was the fact that I was returning to a world turned upside down by a virus. Customs simply nodded and waved me through and definitely didn’t ask where I’d been or check my temperature. At the time I was exhausted and ready to get home and crawl into my own bed, so the quick Customs check was completely fine by me. It wasn’t until later that I paused to think about it and wonder at how little attention was paid to the health of the people coming back into the country from Iceland on March 6th, knowing that within a few days travel from Europe would be restricted. Luckily, I didn’t have the dreaded COVID19… but still, it is a bit unsettling to consider.
On Monday, March 9th I started my new gig… spent four days on the job before Washington DC’s pandemic response kicked in and we were all ordered to stay at home. BOOM! Home I went. And home I still am. And while I do have an editing system at home, the company I was working with decided against allowing me to work from home - their coporate policy apparently doesn’t allow freelancers to bring media home with them.
Life in the time of COVID19 is a bit bizarre. Wearing a face mask takes getting used to, and the doomsday preppers and toilet paper hoarders are annoying AF. But I’m an introvert by nature, so social distancing isn’t as difficult on me as it is on others. Mostly I find myself disappointed in my fellow citizens. We seem, as a society to have lost all sense of making sacrifices for the common good. When I think about the stories my parents and grandparents used to tell of living through WW2 and the Great Depression, I marvel at how soft and selfish we’ve become. How incapable of giving things up - even for just a few months - so that others might survive. I can admit, I miss the gym, and I miss the daily interaction with my coworkers, and I haven’t seen my family since February, but honestly, things could be much worse.
At this point, DC has entered Phase 2 of its re-opening, but I’m still a bit wary…
