Gaston Gazette

“The problem that was once “their problem” has suddenly become your problem. And my problem.

Let’s face it, it’s our problem now.”

Coronavirus madness is neverending, but sometimes it takes a bee sting to remind us that that summer is here, and it’s only here for a season.

Enjoy it while you can. Even if it stings a little.

“It makes me wonder, can the average American agree on anything anymore or have we become the Divided States of America? Let’s just make it easier on ourselves and shorten it to America’s States. No reason to use an adjective anymore.”

“But in light of the current pandemic, so many nonprofits are having to go virtual with their fundraising events. In addition to virtual 5Ks, there are or will be galas, auctions, bowl-a-thons, benefit concerts and more all moving in a virtual direction.

Nonprofits organizers don’t really have a choice. Going virtual is better than not going at all. The reality of the pandemic doesn’t lessen the importance or needs of all the great nonprofits in our areas doing great things.”

“When this all started, we all really felt we were “in this together”, as we adhered to stay-at-home orders in an effort to “flatten the curve”. Everyone told us these were “uncertain times”, and we believed them.

But now we’re over it. Our collective quarantine batteries are slowly dying, and we don’t quite react with the same level of vigilance we once did.”

“Despite the new restrictions, the kids are still jumping into the pool with wild abandon. Mothers and daughters are still laying out trying to catch some rays. Even the old men are still swimming in slow motion up and down the length of the pool, getting in a little aerobic exercise where they can.

For a moment, if you close your eyes long enough, you can temporarily escape from this crazy world that we’ve somehow been thrust into lately.”

“Times have changed. In addition to the flu shot, kids are now having to get tested for the coronavirus. Currently this level of testing involves pulling into a drive-thru where spacemen-looking medical professionals reach into your car window and shove a six-inch Q-tip-like instrument up your nostrils and tickle your eyeballs. Or at least that’s how I’ve heard it described.”

I’ve found myself in that place that Herminia Ibarra, an expert on professional and leadership development, calls the liminal period – the place where you are existing between the past that you once knew and a future you don’t know at all. I’m simply between the ‘Then’ and the ‘Next’. It’s a weird place to be.

We do know what Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the top expert on viral respiratory diseases for the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), was doing on that morning. She was speaking at a media teleconference sharing what she had told her husband and kids earlier that morning over breakfast as it related to the coronavirus outbreak and its spread in the United States. She said, “We, as a family, need to be preparing for significant disruption of our lives.”

Boy, was she spot on or what?

A night doesn’t go by where I don’t ask Alexa who won a particular World Series. She knows, and always tells me. And then I go right to sleep. It’s easy to sleep when things are certain.

It’s also easier to sleep when you know how the story ends.