I want to write about something that left me speechless, so it may be a bit difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First I have to reassure my children (read “jailers”) that I took every possible precaution and made sure not to be in any danger. Remember, one of my finer qualities is paranoia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We realized that we were missing a very few things, so I got into my car and drove to the mall (about 1 kilometer from our house.) I put on my gloves (I took 3 pairs of gloves for this mission) and pressed the button to take the ticket at the parking lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I headed straight for the pharmacy where I had heard they had a supply of the N95 masks. They also had cleaning sheets impregnated with bleach and thermometers. I purchased what we needed. In the pharmacy was one cashier and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mall was empty of people. The escalators were not running. Aside from the pharmacies (I only saw one, but I am certain the other was open too), the supermarket, and a health food store, everything was closed. It was silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stopped at the supermarket – to purchase that all important granulated garlic- there were perhaps 10 people spread over a huge area and spots on the floor near the checkout counters instructing people to stand on them in order to keep a safe distance. Everyone I saw was wearing gloves- most were wearing masks too. Of course once I purchased the masks, I was wearing one also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one spoke except the checkout clerks at the pharmacy and the supermarket. They were friendly and helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the truth was, I had entered a completely alternate reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have traveled a lot- to many different countries. We are not surprised that people have different customs and folkways- but this was so very different from everything else I have ever experienced. It is as if the life has been sucked out of us and we are going through the motions like people on a treadmill who walk and walk and get nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know- I firmly believe- that what we are doing is preserving life and it is necessary and important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it feels so weird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I want to write about something that left me speechless, so it may be a bit difficult. First I have to reassure my children (read “jailers”) that I took every possible precaution and made sure not to be in any danger. Remember, one of my finer qualities is paranoia. We realized that we were missing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t