My dog and I passed an elderly man wearing a mask. Bungee stopped, pulling back, as if startled and afraid.
Truth be told, I was afraid too. Every time I see one of those things, I think I’m about to get very sick, possibly die from an unknown pandemic.
Remember the ebola scare? Hospital/clinic receptionists/nurses would always ask, “Do you have a headache?” before signing you in for an appointment. At some point, my son’s teenaged friends would greet each other that way — 85 percent as a joke.
The day before they shut down the world for COVID-19 in March of 2020, me and a soccer mom went to the high school soccer pitch to take our sons’ team photos for Senior Night, an annual ritual assigned to me by the head coach.
We’d already heard rumblings of the lockdown. Senior Night might not even happen. All our efforts wasted.
This was our sons James and Jackson’s year, too. They’d played on the same Select-Rec team, The Strikers, since middle school. For their alma mater, Kamiak HS, they gave up their usual forward and mid-fielder positions to defend the backline, as nearly impenetrable partners in crime.
Kami and I knew, as we walked up the field, that we’d never see them finish in grand style, like all the other previously graduating classes got to — and took for granted.
As we gathered the senior players together for one last photo, I noticed one of them coughing real bad. His teammates jokingly asked if he had Covid, but their voices trembled a little.
They also knew they would never get to play together as seniors.
They’d never know if they could’ve made State.
Authorities locked down days before their first scheduled scrimmage. They never played their first game.
Life and the grown-ups in charge let them down in the end.
All that and more were stolen from them.
Yet, they stood there, goofing around and posing, just as Kami and I asked them to, knowing it was all for nothing.
But even now, with all we know in hindsight, I still flinch when someone coughs or walks by in a mask. When I get home, I want to take a hot shower until my skin blisters off.
I was one of those people who wanted the lockdowns, the masking, the vaccine. When they were made available, I was worried that I wouldn’t be among the first to get one.
Life is hilarious.
On a slightly brighter note, I think we also passed the New York lady who moved in a street down in one of the newer houses. Two days ago, I saw a for-sale sign on her yard, and nearly did a jig.
From what I heard, the NY lady wasn’t very nice. She got into altercations with her neighbors.
She’d walk onto people’s yards, opening their gate, to adjust the sprinklers. She made herself at home in Dominic and Christina’s garage, berating them about rodents and how to treat them.
I never met her and didn’t ever care to. My husband, who’s also from NY, also never did, thank heaven. I can’t imagine the fallout from that interaction.
Like our son James, Ed is very personable, charming even, but don’t push him too far; he doesn’t take shit from anyone.
Something psychic: when I first heard about the NY lady, as everybody fretted and shrugged about what to do if she kept ramping it up, I saw in my mind’s eye her selling the house and moving away. Then, logic took over, and said, why would any sane person do that, wasting so much time and money after just barely a year? Ha!
Other than walking my dog today, I have no other plans. I want one day a week where I sit on my ass and do nothing but enjoy my coffee, watching the crazy, messed-up world go by from the safety of my boob tube.
My Bungee turned three last week. I baked him a cake. He finished the last slice yesterday.
I can’t believe he’s my dog, my shield, my best friend…my reward.