I’d like to wish all a Happy Easter and Passover to those who celebrate in your faith of choice.
This year will go down in modern history as the year that wasn’t.
No photos with the Easter Bunny, no large gathering of family and friends for an Easter meal, no traditional Easter egg hunts. I’m sure the Easter Bunny wore his mask and gloves as he delivered baskets all over the world last night. He better have or he’ll get blamed spreading the coronavirus.
School has been officially been cancelled for the rest of the academic year, including all winter playoffs and spring sports.
High school seniors all over the country cannot be happy with this decision but for health and welfare of everyone, it’s the best decisions.
Local colleges have cancelled graduation ceremonies while one local high school will hold graduation at an drive-in movie theater. I think that’s a wonderful idea and classmates will get to hear graduation speeches from the comfort of their cars with family. When the world gives you lemons, you make lemonade, as the saying goes.
When we rounded the Christmas holidays into the New Year, did you think by Easter, we’d all be wearing masks, not going to our favorite restaurants, being able to shake hangs or hug someone?
Most people enjoy a warm embrace, a handshake or even a casual hug and now, we’re not allowed. Social distancing, you know. A friend of mine told me the other day that she misses hugging very much – I think we’re all missing human touch.
It’s safe to say people are really stretching home life is as much as possible. There are only so many drawers and closets to clean out, watch so many movies, or surf the World Wide Web.
I would think sports channels are really reaching on what they can broadcast.
There’s nothing worse than watching a pro golf match from last year, five years ago or 15-years ago for that matter, for example.
Auto racing reinvented itself by having pro driver race in computer simulators. I have to admit, the graphics cards used for these simulated races are so realistic it’s crazy. If you were walking past a TV and saw a simulated race on, you’d think you were watching the real thing.
We’re at the time of year when first-run TV shows are hitting the final broadcast of the season so, oh joy, we’ll be watching even more reruns for the rest of the summer.
New movies and TV productions have halted in Hollywood so I don’t know how that will play out when the fall season is upon us. You just might have to wait to see how your favorite TV show’s cliffhanger will be resolved at a much later date.
This past week would have been my annual trek to Charleston, S.C., to work at a professional women’s tennis tournament. I’ve been going to Charleston since 2007, and it’s been my home away from home.
So instead of being there, I have to hope the airlines will be kind and grant my request for a total refund from my trip. The car rental company already did, so I’m thankful for that.
For as much as I enjoy attending and working at the tournament watching reruns of matches from years gone by doesn’t appeal to me.
Overall, I believe Greater Pittstonians are doing a very good job on staying home and staying safe. I’m not sure of the percentage of people wearing masks, but some days when I’m out, maybe I see 50% wearing them, other days less and some days more.
PA Gov. Wolf showed his age in a recent press conference when he suggested we get used to wearing facemasks like we did when we had to wear seatbelts in our cars. I hope we don’t have to make a practice of wearing mask when the coast is clear of the virus. Personally, I find it hard to breath when wearing my mask at times and other times, my glasses are fogging up.
We have to hope for a vaccine to rid COVID-19 so we won’t have to worry about it ever returning.
If we are allowed to reopen for business again soon, will we still be asked to wear the masks? I understand that the leading expert on infectious disease, Dr. Anthony Fauci has been suggesting we never shake hands again. Not sure if that’s true, but if it is, what’s next? No hugging?
I think it’s pretty safe to say we’ll all be carrying a bottle or spray of sanitizer in our cars and purses from here on out.
I recently reached out to a friend from Stockholm, Sweden, who was an exchange student at Wyoming Area when I was in high school, to discuss the COVID-19 in her country. She told me they have forms of isolation and quarantine more for those 70-years and older. More non-Swedes have fallen victim to the virus, she noted in her country.
Students have been home-schooled and people are social distancing themselves. She said Swedes are feeling calm and confident the virus will flatten and the country will get back to normal soon.
I don’t know if we’ll ever find out how it started, but all I know is history repeats itself and next time around, we have to be better prepared for whatever is thrown our way.
Quote of the week
“Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.” – Henry Ward Beecher
Thought of the week
“The present time has one advantage over every other – it is our own.” – Charles Caleb Colton
Bumper sticker
“A pure hand needs no glove to cover it.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
