Night and Day
Journal Day 11 (feels like many months): Life in my little corner of NYC in the age of the Coronavirus, Wednesday, April 1, 2020
I didn’t get out until after dark today, and then I just walked a few blocks to Target. Picked up a package of ground coffee and coffee filters that I had ordered in advance online, which is another thing I had never done in the before times. I didn’t venture too far into the store, but from what I could see, it was pretty empty. Only one person was at the self check-out machines, where usually there would have been a long line.
I’ve been getting spoiled by taking my daily walks in the Forest Hills Gardens, with its fairy-tale houses and botanical-garden-worthy trees and landscaping. If the Gardens are a fantasy world, Austin Street at night has now become a stark reality, looking desolate and mostly deserted, the sidewalks strewn with disgusting and possibly toxic used gloves and masks.
For contrast, this was the beauty and symmetry of a flowering tree in the Forest Hills Garden yesterday:
I should try to get out earlier tomorrow, while there is still daylight. Where does the time go? Forums, Facebook, and web surfing are my biggest time sinks, although I did better today in spending less time obsessively watching the news.
I did watch Gov. Cuomo, though, and that is always time well spent. I was joking with the people in my discussion group that he must have eavesdropped on our session last night because he tackled the exact same question: How will this experience change us? His answer is worth listening to, and it’s up on YouTube. After that, he talked about his brother, Chris. It was very moving, and it made me cry.
It’s starting to sink in what a long haul this is likely to be.
I have a friend who says she just assumes she will get the virus at some point, considering how pervasive it must be throughout the city. Maybe that’s a good perspective to take. It’s wise to be mentally prepared. I’m a big baby when it comes to pain, but other people are getting through it, so I guess I could too.
Would my thoughts be less gloomy if I had gotten out in the sun today? Maybe. I will try tomorrow and see.
