In the Time of Corona Virus

By Margie Senechal

This too shall pass

As all big events do, this one will change us before it finally recedes.  

Writers like to explore and predict those changes. At least I do. My dream is to write a great Dystopian novel. Someday I just may, but until then I read them and think of the frozen world aftermath that is my Journal Keeper story. Every now and again, I pull it out of the dead files and boot it up to add a note here and a paragraph there. Someday, my heart promises. Someday.

But today, I’m here to talk about time in a world full of the Corona Virus. I think the virus has become the epitome of Darwin’s Theory. That virus is mutating to stay alive. Survival of the fittest. The lessons we learn now should prepare for us for the next one. And I do believe there will be a next one, maybe a bacterial superbug which the medical community has been predicting for the past twenty years or so.

I also believe that in ten years or so, Covid stories will be like birthing stories—most people have one and they’re all different. I have two. Pretty boring ones, but I still have them.

I caught the Beta back in November of 20, before the vaccine. I knew I’d gotten it when I couldn’t smell or taste anything. Which is a weird phenomenon. At first I didn’t believe it, inhaling the nutmeg over and over again and finally deciding, that no, I couldn’t smell it. Nutmeg! That is one potent spice.

I went from eating for taste to eating for texture.  I fixed my first Thanksgiving meal without being able to smell or taste it. Mike and Jordan thought it was great. KB and I had to take their word. 14 months later and my taste is still kind of wonky. I find my beloved cinnamon jelly bellies vile now.

Two weeks ago, my entire family came down with Omicron. The girls and I had the equivalent of cold, but Mike was a little worse. Cold always tend to migrate into his lungs and this one was no different. There were a couple of days where I thought he might have to go to the hospital as the oximeter gave him high 80’s for lung capacity. 

He did end up going to Urgency care and getting an inhaler and cough medication but was told he just had a bad cold and the virus hadn’t given him pneumonia. And yes, we’re all vacced. JV and I both have been boosted.

On the bright side, I got five days paid off by my company.  

And that is my secret. Finding the bright side. In the early days it was the videos of Italians making the best of it by singing out their windows, NYC applauding the first responders every night, and restaurants reopening with covered and heated patios. I love the resilience of humans. Maybe that’s why I love Dystopias—even in their worst-case scenarios, they exemplify what is best about us.

I loved seeing the creative ways people made the best of their situations and maybe even improved them. I know the new world order has been good for my piggy bank as my company has decided to pay more to keep employees around.

And books. Books have made a comeback, I think. I read 60 books last year—up about 15 or so from the previous year. I discovered a couple new-to-me authors—Julia Quinn, how had I not read her Bridgerton books before???, Christina Lauren, Emily Henry, and Kiera Cass to name a few.

Well, that’s it for me today. Tell me your bright sides, book recs, and experiences. As Frasier said, I’m listening.