It's Going to Be a COVID Christmas!

 Dear Joanie,

    We have watched over and over again the video of you eating with a spoon, or at  least the video of someone (your mom?)  aiming a spoon  of something at your mouth. You are reaching out for the spoon, smiling, then frowning, then smiling.  Your smile is so captivating. We've seen a picture of you smiling up at your dad, eyes so bright. Your great grandfather Dougie and I airplay these pictures over and over again.

    Because of course, you are now going on seven months old, and we still haven't met you. The pictures are all we have. There is only a slight possibility that we may be able to be with you on your first birthday (and two days later Dougie's 84th) because...

    THE FIRST VACCINES FOR COVID-19 HAVE BEEN SHIPPED TO ALL STATES! Yes,  beginning this week we have seen pictures of the vaccines being loaded onto planes. We saw a video of our Governor Polis greeting the plane on which the vaccines for Colorado arrived. but most poignantly, we have seen pictures of our health care workers receiving their vaccinations. The pictures bring people to tears as we realize the burden and fear we've been carrying, not only for ourselves, but also for our families, those we love, and health care workers who are right on the front lines. It may be only a pinprick of a light at the end of the tunnel, but a light there is.

    Nonetheless. We now have over 300,000 COVID deaths in the United States. I read a statistic that we in the U.S. represent four percent of the world's population, but 24% of the world's COVID cases. That is disgraceful beyond words, because this country, at the national level, refused to put a management plan into action, and, encouraged by the current president, made it a political issue, especially in the refusal of people to wear masks because of the ill-conceived notion that their freedoms were being impinged upon. 

    Right now, as the vaccine is being distributed, we still remain in a very dangerous time. We cannot let up our guard.  It will be a while before we can feel safe. For Dougie and me, it looks as if we'll receive the vaccine sometime in the spring. Your parents and your grandmother may have to wait until summer. 

    So our lives will remain the same for a while now. Like yesterday, for example. I had a dentist appointment for a cleaning.  I drove into town, parked in the parking lot, and called the office to say I had arrived. I then had to answer a series of questions on the phone: Do I have a fever? Cough? Temperature? Have I lost my sense of smell? Have I been around anyone with COVID? Have I been out of the state in the last 14 days? Then I'm told that I'll be called when they're ready for me. I wait in my car. It's 28 degrees outside, but I'm okay. I get the call in about five minutes, so I put my face mask on and go to the office. There, my hygienist squirts sanitizer in my hand and takes my temperature. It's 90 degrees, but that's because I just came in our of the cold. She takes my temp on my forehead. "I probably got some of your hair," she said. I sit in the dental chair and take off my mask; Heather keeps her mask on and also puts a face guard on. She looks like a riot control officer.  She cleans my teeth, I put my mask back on, and head back to the car.  

    There, I see people coming and going, all masked, all trying to get some Christmas shopping done.  Christmas lights are up everywhere. Everything in town looks festive and solitary, like someone threw a big party, but nobody came. 

    Of course, the other news I've been following with you is our presidential election. Yes, that was held on November 3, but you won't believe all the obstacles Trump has tried to throw in the way to make our election invalid. I believe this time will go down in history as a real threat to the democracy that forms the very character of our country.  Trump has raged; his associates have filed over 30 lawsuits, all dismissed, especially the two the Supreme Court refused. The Electoral College met Monday (Our elections are complicated, actually) and their votes confirmed Biden as President-Elect.  But still Trump rages. And many Republicans have sold their very souls in aligning themselves with his crazy notion that somehow Democrats were able to rig an election.  What a mess. But Biden/Harris prevail, and Trump sulks and rages. 

    As for me, I still do my online dance classes at least three times a week. I hike with Shelby Poodle, who turned 7 today, almost everyday. I'm tired of cooking all our meals. I'm tired of wearing masks, especially since my glasses fog up. I'd give most anything to sit down with a good friend at a cafe and have a cup of coffee and just talk for a while. Or go to a restaurant for some fish and chips. Or have family over for Christmas dinner. Or, above all, to see you. 

Shelby Poodle & I Therapy Dog Team