06
Apr

Palm Sunday, Prayer Circles, And Playing It By Ear On When Leaving Home Will Be Safe Again…

Yesterday would have normally found me in church. Instead, due to the Coronavirus, I was home and fielding calls, emails and texts from concerned clients.

Another weekend in quarantine. My third week of self isolation has given me plenty of time to think about my life. I’m certain you have to. In a snap life changed for all of us. In a matter of days, life as we knew it flew out the window.

My only child welcomed my first grandchild a month ago. I’ve only held Oliver Glen twice. Once in NICU and once at my sons home. It’s difficult to admit that I anxiously look forward to the daily photos my daughter in law posts on FB but it’s true. My son and his wife don’t have iPhones so I can’t FaceTime them. Instead we video chat on messenger.

I’m learning to do things I’ve never done like ordering groceries for pick up. I’ve leaned heavily on my niece, Leigh Ann at Port Hueneme to learn how to navigate Walmart and Tom Thumb apps I’ve downloaded. Trying to find an open slot for delivery is nearly impossible. You have to continually check back for an opening.

My husband can’t go to his doctor as the office is closed. Businesses have boarded up storefront windows in the anticipation of looters.

My fathers surgery was rescheduled. Saturday while going downstairs to my basement, I slipped and dislocated my knee. Normally, I would have run to the ER but not anymore. Instead, I had my husband gently move my foot and shifted my body weight to pop my kneecap back in. The sound and my shriek combined upset my husband so much that he started crying.

How many parents are yelling “don’t do that you could get hurt and we can’t go to the hospital” out there?

Things we took for granted we no longer do. Life as we knew it is gone. When churches and casinos close their doors and DPS officers put anyone crossing state lines into mandatory quarantine, you would think that people believing this is all a hoax would snap out of it but you would be mistaken.

People are dying. Not just people either. Several of my former clients have been to the hospital. Many are either fighting for their own lives or those of their children or spouses or both. The reality is that people are getting sick. People are dying. This isn’t a hoax. This is real.

Porch ceremonies and garage funerals are occurring now. If you had told me that a Hearst would be parked in a driveway with the casket rolled out prior to all of this I would never have believed it. But, it’s happening folks and it’s happening right here in Fort Worth.

I watched a memorial on FB of one of my friends who had lost his father. The seats were in the garage for mourners. The Hearst parked diagonally with the casket on the driveway surrounded by flower arrangements. My heart broke for a son who couldn’t have a traditional ceremony to celebrate the life of his father.

In the midst of bad news there has been good news. My former client, Shelby who lost her baby a week after being born last year is expecting twins.

Neighborhoods have come together to check on one another with colored paper indicating whether they need help or not.

TDCJ has dramatically controlled the spread of the Coronavirus which is no easy task. When you compare the numbers of other facilities against Texas, it’s easy to see that Texas is limiting the transmission.

Oakland, Rikers and other facilities aren’t but had we had more notice, more warning of a widespread possibility of a pandemic could we have limited the number of deaths? I believe we could have.

Moving on to wearing masks… my May clients at venues are moving forward with plans to marry at a number of venues. Will they wear a mask? Will I? I was asked this question by a reporter yesterday. Frankly, it’s something I will need to ask my clients. I’m not uncomfortable wearing a mask but will they be?

My sinus infection is finally clearing up and I have several Texas Twins Treasures items to ship today. I’m also shipping Easter gifts to my grandnieces and new grandson. There won’t be any Easter hunts this year for my family. There won’t be a meal or church service together. There won’t be any traditions of years gone by but there will be video dinners and zoom conferences among the homes of my son, my sister, my niece and myself. We will be celebrating Easter in a socially distant fashion that’s new to all of us. We will be staying home and staying safe as well.

Aside from my trip to the post office today and pick up at Walmart and Tom Thumb tomorrow, I continue to be homebound and down in Fort Worth Texas and performing ceremonies from my porch for couples who have their license but have nowhere to go because the venue is closed due to the Coronavirus…