The Corona Chronicles Revisited...

Six years ago we were in Walt Disney World. It was a big vacation. Katie planned it all out and we had schedules and maps and plans and...

And if it were a movie it would be the time before the horror happens. Those pre-moments where you hear little clips on the radio or tvs playing in the background. Where the stories are getting wilder, or bigger, but still not quite filtering through to our characters.

That's where we were. We knew there was a virus. I think it was even called the Novel Coronavirus by then, I'm not sure we'd heard it called Covid 19 yet though. But it was background noise. Nobody had changed any behaviors, as far as we could tell. Nobody was really worried. It was something happening "over there" not something to worry about here.

It was enough on our minds though that when the obviously sick kid sneezed in Katie's face on the Disney bus as we were headed to the airport we were a little horrified. But, honestly, we would have been anyway. People and sick kids on vacation is a thing that happens. And they are little germ factories that just love to share.

When we got home we got our first taste of things to come. Since we had been gone for over a week we needed groceries. I can remember just being stunned at how empty the shelves were. The clerk told us that it was better than it had been the day before, that they just couldn't keep up with people. It was worse than any snowstorm prep we'd ever seen. Which, fair enough, we were locked away for longer than any snowstorm, even the really massive one when Katie was in high school that basically gave her a month long winter break over Christmas.

The first case of Covid was in Washington back in January 2020. It was someone who had travelled from China so we were all sort of aware but not really. But what we weren't really aware of, but soon would be as we caught up to local news, was that the first case in Oregon had been confirmed. And it wasn't someone who had travelled recently or come in contact with anyone who had travelled. And it was local. Covid was here. The people who had swarmed the grocery store while we were flying back from Orlando already knew.

I just spent some time rereading some of my blog posts from back then. The original Corona Chronicles. I wanted to capture what it was like before my memory started polishing it away. And honestly, what I remembered is pretty close to what I was writing about. I had told Brent that some of the last things we did before everything shut down was go to the gym and also get a pedicure. My reasoning for the pedicure was that it was probably the cleanest place out there. I knew my salon was strict even in normal times so I wasn't worried at all.

The gym I had taken a week off in Orlando, then I had a cold when we got back (probably thanks to the kid on the bus) so another week off for that and I had been chomping at the bit to get back. I went like three times before it shut down for that temporary two week shut down we had. You know the one that lasted for two years. But anyway... The last time I went I was one of three people there. I was a final hold out for being at the gym. And I was sure that I would be right back to it as soon as I could. Instead we built our own gym and I still haven't gone back, though I still might.

It was interesting to reread those early blogs. The way things changed drastically and quickly. Seeing the rise of the deniers right from the start. People who made being assholes about being asked to think about others their whole personalities. Reading those blogs, I think I got mad in 2020 and never stopped being mad.

And I don't think I'm the only one.

I don't think the country has recovered. I think the pandemic pushed us into where we are today faster than we would have gotten here otherwise. People created their own realities. They decided to believe their own stories. They didn't trust the scientists. They didn't trust the doctors. They put their faith in conmen and horse dewormer and never looked back.

It was interesting to go back and read those early months. I stopped at the post I wrote on Mother's Day. I talked about how I had a moment where I had worried about my mom since her health wasn't good and she had chemo and ...then remembered she had already passed. It was a quick shot of grief. And then I wrote about talking to Brent's Mom and I...well I closed down those blogs and came to write this one.

I know what happened next. The Grief Chronicles reopened and blended with the Corona Chronicles and I just got madder and madder.

Six years ago we were in Walt Disney World and had no idea what was coming our way. Which I am really grateful for. It was a wonderful vacation. We had a great time. It was a LOT and we all agreed we are Disneyland people more than World. I'm grateful we took the trip and didn't think about viruses or how much toilet paper we had stashed in the garage. That was the last pocket of "before" and I am glad it was a really brilliant one.