I have become elderly this year. No I am not older than my actual calendar years, yet society thinks I am now dispensable. The pandemic moved Boomers from the “in” group to oldsters, Actually, to a group to be discarded in nursing homes. With a moral shadow blighting the national conscience. As the virus decimated the…
Category: Health
Safety Packaging
There is very little that is more aggravating on a day to day basis as the frustration of opening packages of food, bottles of medicine, liquid bottles, and purchased over the counter drugs. Millennials take these inconveniences for granted, never really questioning the origin and implications for older Americans. In 1982, in the Chicago suburb…
Interpretations of Life
It is one of the inevitable processes of living, and it is one we prefer to ignore…we all will die. As blunt as that sounds, it is the preparation for this stage we are obsessed with as it approaches our rear-view mirror. Many find solace in the religious interpretation of what occurs when the body…
Getting COVID Vaccine
Getting THE vaccine became a hammer-and-tongs preoccupation! If I could get any of the COVID vaccines, maybe someday I would be able to move about the world freely. I have so wanted to find a way to return to some measure of normalcy. In that, I am no different from everyone in the world. It…
Working Out: Exercise, before the pandemic and now!
Every morning I used to try to walk to the ocean and back. If we were camping, I walked the dog around the campground. If we were visiting children, a brisk walk around the block was the workout for the day. I threw in chair situps and light weights for the arms. Now, I have…
COVID Vocabulary continued: Virtual Hug, Fist Bump, and Social Distancing
In the interest of documenting the changes in our everyday vocabulary, I periodically have been examining the common use of previously loosely associated phrases. I mean, for goodness sake, who went around saying to close friends, “let’s have a virtual hug?” Having a good squeeze was one of the loveliest expressions of caring between friends,…
I Got Vaccinated, WAHOO!
I did it! I was not sure that my resolve would translate into access to an appointment for the COVID vaccine. We showed up for the appointment at the FORUM in Ingleside, CA. Obviously, this is a mass vaccination site. It was amazingly well managed. It was easy to find the entrance and there were…
More COVID “new” Vocabulary
“The New Normal”“Semi-normal Times”“During These Difficult Times”“Getting Through These Tough Times”“We’ll Get Through These Tough Times Together” It would seem that in the 21st Century, it would be nearly impossible to create a new turn of phrase. Undeniably this time of our lives is not intended to become “the new normal” nor is it a…
COVID-19 Vocabulary #5: Herd Immunity
The continual use of the term “herd immunity” in the media has been troublesome. Not being a farm girl, I have been unfamiliar throughout my life with the discussion of herds and what happens to the group as a whole. According to http://www.mayoclinic.org, herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community, in this…
COVID-19 Vocabulary #3
Day 3 of reflecting on the new vocabulary common to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the desirable social distancing, our almost painful new reality, and the politically sensitive face mask. Social Distancing: Once upon a time, this was a phrase implying the appropriate distancing when carrying on a conversation or standing in a public area. Social politeness required the…