A Safe Distance and Refrigerator Trucks

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Total Confirmed: 664,608

Total Deaths: 30,845

Total Recovered: 138,595

And I didn’t sleep that well. I snored up a symphony. I woke up when Aidan tried to softly brush my face to get me to roll over. He miscalculated where I was at in the dark, and instead, whacked me in the nose. Another time, I woke up with him feeling my foot as though it were a foreign object. He was squeezing it and pinching my toes. Then he rolled over and went back to sleep.

And while all that was happening, a thousand people died.

In the morning I thought about them all. One after another being released from their ventilator. One by one being moved to the refrigerator trucks waiting outside to hold the dead. The ventilators quickly being moved on to the next guy.

We all die alone, I suppose. But being that sick and knowing you may die and not having anyone to hold your hand while you do it… I think that’s even scarier.

But the refrigerator trucks. Are the people all stacked up in body bags or is there a more respectful way to handle them? Can there be a respectful way to put people into refrigerator trucks? Is there a designated person to call the loved ones, one after another after another, and tell them there was nothing more that could’ve been done?

People don’t seem to be as upset about staying home these days. They’re getting to know the people who are in their daily lives. They’ve settled into it a bit. They’ve settled into having only their own children around. They’ve settled into hanging out in blanket forts in their living rooms while they’re trying to work on their laptops. Creating podcasts, sitting in their closets for sound quality.

Being creative in general.

I worked really hard on my secret invention and made huge progress. Dave even brought back our air compressor. He put it outside the garage and knocked really loud. I answered the garage door and he stayed halfway down the driveway and talked to me for a few minutes. A Safe Distance Away.

My mother-in-law came over for a few and we all washed hands and didn’t even hug. She has been safe. Hasn’t visited anyone. Hasn’t left her house until now. We sat out back around the lonely fire pit that we keep swearing we’ll use but the weather is still sucky. We chatted about all the things and then she left.

Sherlock laid around on the porch in the sunshine even though it’s freezing cold outside. He’s all happy and napping and glad I didn’t give him a haircut yet.

I wish I could be like him.

And not think about Refrigerator Trucks.