The Lighter Side of the Pandemic

The pandemic isn’t anything to laugh about. Still, it helps to look at the lighter side sometimes.

Who thought up the name of this pandemic? The Black Death, Spanish Influenza, and Bird Flu have a romantic sound. Even AIDS and EBOLA have a bit of a ring to them. But Covid-19?

My nomination is Rose Burr. If you look at the photo from the CDC, it looks a bit like one of those burrs you get in your socks and pants when walking across an uncultivated field, except that the stickers in Covid-19 are rose-red.

Here are some changes that have resulted from Rose Burr:

·       Observing “Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day/Week/Month/Year”—this is not me, though; I’ve been working from home for years and discovered early on that I take it more seriously if I dress as I used to when I went to my office in Chicago;

·       Losing track of the days and wondering if it is Facemask Friday yet;

·       Buying masks as fashion accessories—if I have to wear one in public, it should coordinate with my outfit;

·       Wondering what people are afraid of when they wear masks while driving alone in a car;

·       Using quarantine and social distancing as an excuse to stay away from people we don’t like;

·       Justifying the money spent on take-out and delivery as a way to support the restaurant industry—I’m in favor of this, by the way;

·       Getting up at a ridiculously early hour to do grocery shopping with the “at risk” segment of society before the store has a chance to get contaminated after its deep cleaning—and then fearing that I will get the virus from those employees who seem to believe that a face mask can be effective if it covers the mouth but not the nose;

·       Standing in line in the rain because there are too many people in the store already;

·       Learning that “one way” applies to grocery store aisles as well as streets;

·       Experimenting with tried and true dishes because the tried and true ingredients aren’t available;

·       Marveling that we and our non-techie friends have learned how to “attend” livestreamed church services and Zoom Bible studies;

·       Celebrating when we can finally get a haircut—and mourning for friends in states where that hasn’t happened yet.

The first time I saw a picture of the virus I thought, “How pretty.” But I have used my photo software to come up with some that are even more interesting. Here they are:

So hang in there, but don’t forget to look at the lighter side.

__________

The image at the top of this page is from the CDC and is in the public domain because it is a document produced by the government. The other images are my creative adjustments to the CDC image.