Sheltering at Home

April 7, 2020 and tuning into the news is like viewing another dystopian movie. Except (and I have to remind myself), it’s real.

To backtrack, February 17 was Family Day in Alberta and although we knew there was a new virus, Wuhan, China was on the other side of the world. The first reported Canadian Case was on January 27 in Toronto. A man travelling from Wuhan had fallen ill with the virus. Still, we didn’t know the seriousness or the contagiousness of this new health threat. Optimists all, we booked a holiday in Mexico for March 20, spring break.

March 11 WHO declared that Covid 19 had become pandemic. March 16 with reluctant prudence, we cancelled our holiday. Two days later, the company cancelled so the decision had been taken out of our hands, anyway. I was disappointed; we all were but, a new reality was descending. People over 65 were at particular risk and even young people could fall fatally ill. March 20 came and went. We started to self-isolate although we’d been nowhere and our area was fortunate to have, so far, escaped confirmed cases.

The last time I stocked up on groceries was at least two weeks ago and after he realized the seriousness of the pandemic, Gary (husband) ceased his forays out for food. He’d become a “European” shopper and like going out for ‘needed’ items every day. Now he takes a walk. I still walk my two little dogs; the town has excellent trails. There are books, there is tv, there is social media. The biggest challenge for many of us ‘sheltering in place’ is that someone said, no. Forbidden fruit looks oh, so sweet. And to be denied is not the normal lifestyle. It must become the new normal where we are less spoiled. Sometimes dystopia is all too real.