Virus Virus, go away...

It’s 7 AM and I am lying in bed wide awake listening to the rain pelting on the windowpanes. I wonder what my kids and I will do for exercise as jogging the track is out of the question today. The gyms are all closed because of the pandemic currently terrorizing the globe.

I roll onto my side and grab my phone. I scroll through twitter for news updates. Things are looking pretty grim in Italy and Spain. I feel melancholic as I watch videos of doctors crying because they have to take ventilators away from senior citizens to help the younger folks who have fallen ill with the disease. It’s heartbreaking to see. I remember what my doctor told me Thursday. She said, “Laurel, you have to stop checking the news so often. It won’t change anything.” It turned out the chest spasms I was having were due to panic attacks caused from releasing a flight or fight hormone and not a collapsed lung as I had thought. What a relief to learn I wasn’t sick, only crazy. I’ve been on the medication for nearly a week now and the spasms have begun to subside as the medication begins to work. It’s hard not to have a drink in hand all day working from the privacy of my home. It’s the only thing that eases the tension from worrying so much.

I sigh as I put my phone away and crawl out of bed. As usual, I make my bed while kicking a cat or two out of it.  Then comes a bright part of my day that includes greeting our dog, Ezra and my younger children, Janey and Blake. Ezra bounds outside to relieve himself as I wish my kids a very loud good morning. Blake was already awake as I expected. Janey is a preteen now and prefers to get a few more z’s, particularly now that they are homeschooling.

After letting Ezra back inside and giving him his daily morning treat, I saunter into the hallway to scoop the litterbox. After dumping it in the garbage outside and washing my hands, I begin preparing breakfast for everyone. My kids and I discuss what lessons they will complete today while we eat. After I clean the dishes, I sit at my desk and evaluate what to work on first. The rain is falling gently now but the sky is still dark. My 4 cats are all sitting on their cat house behind me watching the droplets come down.

At ten, my workout alarm rings and I call Janey and Blake away from their schoolwork for our first 10 minute dance party of the day. I figure if we can’t go on our regular daily 30 minute jog, we’ll break it up into three 10 minutes sessions of fun dance time. I switch pandora to our hip hop workout station and we commence getting down like James Brown. My kids laugh as I “drop it low.” We’re all sweaty and out of breath when the alarm signals it’s time to cool down. After a few stretches, we disperse back to our work-stations and I switch pandora back to my Ella Fitzgerald station. At this point, the clouds have become angry and the rain turns into a torrential downpour.

As I sit at my desk working and pondering what to make for lunch today, I hear a loud knock at my front door which causes Ezra to bark and growl incessantly. As I head to the living room, the knocking gets louder and more frantic, almost desperate sounding. I shove an angry Ezra out of my way to peer through the window and I see my neighbor, Linda, looking startled and very upset. She’s sopping wet. I open my door but stand a bit away because I’m afraid of contracting the deadly virus. She tearfully explains to me that her husband is having trouble breathing and she can’t call for her help because her phone was disconnected. I tell her to go back and see about her husband, mostly because I want her far away from me now, and I also tell her I will call for help immediately. I feel sad inside because I want to be able to hug her and tell her it will be okay but there’s no time to dwell on these feelings. I feel a sense of urgency as I frantically run back into my office and snag my phone to call 911. The entire conversation is a blur but I manage to spit out the address and beg for help to come for my neighbors.

I stare out of my rainy front window for what seems like several hours when the ambulance finally shows up. I check the time and only 4 minutes have passed since I made the call. I exhale in relief not realizing until now I had been holding my breath for a bit. I see the emergency techs wearing hazmat suits enter my neighbor’s house and quickly come out with my neighbors in tow. As they all pile into the emergency vehicle, I feel desolate and lost. This is so close to home, literally. My neighbors are the same age as my parents. I am forlorn at the thought of them not being able to pay their bills and losing their phone service especially at a time like this. I had no idea Linda and Mike were having financial difficulties. We’ve been isolated for 3 weeks now. The lunch bell rings on my phone. I set out in the kitchen to prepare sandwiches for lunch and I dial my mom’s cell on speaker. After hearing she and my dad are still healthy with no financial concerns, I breathe a huge sigh of relief. I then facetime my oldest daughter, Kendall, and she is doing well too and still self-isolating. She is upset when I tell her the neighbors might be sick. “Mom, that’s right next door,” she said. “I know,” I replied.  

Janey, Drake and I have lunch and then continue our day of work and exercise. They notice I appear solemn and I explain it away as exhaustion. Our second dance party isn’t as lively as the first. As my kids retreat back into their room to complete their final lessons of the day, my phone rings from an unfamiliar number. I answer to an excited exclamation from Linda. She happily reports to me that Mike does not have the deadly virus. I am relieved to hear this news and that hospitals are able to get test results so quickly now. Maybe the spread is finally slowing in the US. Finally, I feel some hope again. Later, our third and final dance party for the day is more exuberant than the other two. It’s still pretty dark outside, but the clouds are shedding mere dribbles now, quietly. It will be bedtime in a few hours, and we’re all done working for the day. It’s time to relax and enjoy the peaceful weather together. I’m grateful everyone I love most is healthy and safe for another day.