Stay Healthy!

We have many salutations in the English language. Many of which I don’t know where specifically they came from;

Take care
‘Later
Goodbye
Have nice day
See you later

But we have a new one that came out of nowhere. We will all remember where this came from if we continue to use it when this is all over.

Be safe. Stay healthy.

Be safe! Stay Healthy!

This morning I went out to my favorite muffin shop to pick up some muffins. As I drove there I told myself that if there were more than two cars in the parking lot, I would not be going in. If I cannot make my visit brief and control who I am keeping distance from, screw it.

Can you imagine? “Well, we have twelve new cases and they all trace back to your visit to the Muffin Company. Were those muffins worth is, Ms. Scott”

Um. No.

There was only one car int he lot when I arrived and that person left after I came in and practically stood in the corner. I’m friendly with the people there so we chatted a bit, and as I left I said the new phrase that’s all the rage “Be safe, stay healthy!” and then I stopped in the doorway and said something to the effect of “Isn’t it weird that that’s suddenly what we say to each other now?”

They two women behind the counter, who undoubtedly could not possibly practice social distancing from each other, agreed.

I put the box of muffins in the back seat and sprayed all sides of it with my make-shift bottle of 409.

Nope. Not kidding.

Yesterday was a stressful day at “the office”. I went to campus for about three hours and the whole time I was on heightened alert. Think about it, you’re walking in and out of buildings all day and when you open a door, you may very well find someone on the other side of it. Will they stop and the two of you can negotiate the space between you together, or not?

As I lay in bed last night I thought about how it could be a really stupid virtual reality video game. Your objective is to go to a college campus and shoot photos. You accumulate points according to how good the photos are. The challenge is that there are people wandering around. Some are zombies but some are not, and they all look like normal people. But, if a zombie gets within, say, six feet of you, you could die.

Game Over.

During my time on campus yesterday, a landscaper stopped me and wanted to chat about my camera gear and it was incredible how much I had to concentrate in order to talk about camera gear because ALL my energy was going into the task at hand; taking good photos and doing it while not getting near people.

In fact the landscaper began to approach me and I had to remind him to keep distance (I don’t see any of the facilities crew and landscapers doing this. Perhaps because it’s so hard for them to not get near each other while working together to do their job). He reacted sort of like “what?…oh….right”

Which I get. We’re human.

But those three hours were tough and I was literally drowsy driving on my way home. Fortunately there’s no traffic now so it took no time at all.

I woke this morning after 9.5 hours of sleep. I never sleep that much. Today it was raining here in Boston, but I wanted to go to campus and see if anyone was moving out. BU just announced that everyone needs to be gone by Sunday, unless they have extenuating circumstances, like, they’re from a high risk country or they would be homeless without BU.

{Takes a moment to appreciate her home}

Today was much easier. It was s shorter visit because no one was out int he rain, and also what I worried were symptoms coming and going earlier in the week, I now recognize for what they are – anxiety. They begin to come in before I leave the house, and I have them until I come home. Now I am used to it so it doesn’t freak me out so much. It’s not fun, but it does keep me aware, and that’s fine.

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From the funny side of things, a friend posted on Facebook and I copied from her;

From a friend: for those working from home, tell me something about your partner, child, or pet, but refer to them as your “coworker.”

The Answers I got include;

My coworker asked me to wipe her bum while on a conference call today.

My coworker is crankier than usual, thought the quesdilla for lunch was “stupid”,’ and keeps 💩 in his underwear.

My coworker hasn’t worn pants all week

My coworker poured chocolate sauce straight into the Edy’s ice cream container and ate it for breakfast.

I slept with my coworker last night while my wife was in the next room.

 My coworker insisted on wearing a hot dog costume and working from her closet.

My coworker called my husband a butt.

My coworker has asked for a snack on the hour, every hour.

My coworkers are refusing to work when I need to focus on responding to email, and they keep making each other cry

My coworker lived in his pajamas all day long, played video games half the day, then cried when I suggested he should maybe get some of his work done

You get the idea. Some funny things are coming out of this to help people keep their sanity!