This Year...

2020 has kind of been the worst. I know, I know the virus has made things...unpleasant, but the year literally started sucking on January 1st. Babe left for the Philippines that morning for a three week work trip. In twenty years of marriage we have never been so far apart for so long a time. I was missing him before he left the van at drop off.

It was hard enough to have him gone, but it became even more unpleasant the morning he called to tell me, "don't panic, but there's a volcano erupting here." He was mighty casual for a man who has never actually experienced a volcano first hand. Even with "rocks falling from the sky," he was frustratingly calm. He's low-key freaking out about this virus though. It's almost funny how the rolls have changed. I have seen enough volcano disaster movies (Dante's Peak, Volcano, Joe Versus the Volcano, Lavalanchala) to know better than to poo-poo the raging murder fiend called "nature." Yet, I am not nearly as panicked as he is about our current situation. I went out to lunch with friends this afternoon (gasp) in public (uber gasp)! I am the harbinger of death!

Eenie moved up to Utah at the end of January. She called me this morning and told me, "don't panic, but there was an earthquake this morning." I've gotten far too many calls that begin with, "don't panic, but..." this year. It's only freakin' March. Oh, and then there's this little inconvenience by the name of COVID-19 running willy-nilly through the countryside.

The worst part of the pandemic (that's what it's been labeled) is just how horribly people are behaving in the face of this threat. I blame the media. It has become a consequence-free-for-all with the very deliberate "Just run the story, we'll fact check later, maybe," school of thought they've rabidly embraced. The problem this position has caused is a "react first, think later" position among the general public. With the announcement of Captain Tripps...I mean, Corona Virus people all around the country have lost their collective minds and have taken to panic hoarding water, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes and toilet paper. Toilet paper! It's a respiratory virus. The only bum issue this virus causes is the one where people have rammed their heads into their asses. Toilet paper isn't going to fix that condition. A change in perspective is only only cure for asshead.

The country is closing down to try and prevent the spread of the virus, Church and schools have been cancelled for the next couple of weeks. Restaurants, bars and lounges are closed. Facebook has become SUPER touchy, blocking any comment that maybe, might, just a teenie, tiney chance perhaps be construed as hate speech. There was a post about how Korea has managed to lock down without the panic seen here in the U.S. (they still have toilet paper on the shelves) I commented that America is the worst, because guess what gang, Americans ARE the WORST and my comment was tagged as hate speech. One of my other friends quoted C.S. Lewis (A Christmas Carols, C.S. Lewis) and his comment was tagged by Facebook. Maybe Facebook is the worst.

Just ask the people who can't find meat because of the panic. Maybe ask the woman who watched another woman shove the last pack of toilet paper into her already crammed with 12 count packs of toilet paper cart what she thinks about Americans and their ability to be rational. Or how bout the guy who decided to buy up all of the hand sanitizer for three counties so he could jack up the price and sell it on Amazon in the hopes of making a tidy sum off of the shortage.

Our cruise was cancelled. Babe is working from home for the foreseeable future. It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.