Halfway to What?

June 30th, 2020. The year is 50% done (49.73% if you want to be pedantic about it.) We are halfway home. 117 shopping days until Christmas.

Can you even remember what you were doing in January? I tried looking back at my blog archives but I mostly just published book reviews in the first two months of the year. My first Coronavirus post was March 8. It holds up rather well, although on March 8 I was still holding out hope I wouldn’t have to cancel our Puerto Rico trip in April. This is the 2nd time in the last 5 years that I was feeling like my future was so bright I needed to wear my sunglasses at night. And it’s the 2nd time in the last 5 years the universe laughed at me and made my life a living hell for having that kind of optimism. There is probably a lesson in there somewhere.

The first time (2016) I lost my job and my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in a 24-hour period. This time we got a pandemic. What are the odds if I ever get that positive again an asteroid just wipes out humanity? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m still doing better than most through this. My job was unaffected, and I already worked from home full time anyway so nothing really changed there. My kids are grown, so we aren’t trying to learn to homeschool while working remote for the maybe the first time. I had to cancel a bunch of fun travel plans with my wife, which I replaced with a camper and a lot of plans to camp this summer, so I guess that is a wash? Like I said, I’m still doing just fine.

We are 111 days into life in a pandemic today. I start counting from March 12, the day we decided to lock down and stay home. In that time I’ve accomplished...not a hell of a lot. I haven’t learned a new language, I haven’t picked up my ukulele, I haven’t built anything neat, I haven’t started a garden, I haven’t made anything. I’ve walked a lot while listening to audiobooks, I’ve played a lot of board games with my wife and son, I’ve reconnected in Zoom with far-flung friends, I’ve read a lot, and I’ve kept working. My typical day right now is work 8-6, dinner, walk for an hour, and around 830 settle down to watch TV for a couple of hours. Right now we are on season 4 of Battlestar Galactica. Around 10:30 we go to bed and I read in bed for an hour or so before falling asleep. Rinse and repeat daily. My days in the before times weren’t that different. Instead of heading Carolina Beach for the 4th we are taking the camper to the mountains. It’s still recreation though.

Speaking of Zoom, is anybody still doing that? Seems like we all burnt out on it after about 2 virtual happy hours. Did the novelty just wear off?

So what will the next 6 months look like? Based on the rising cases in most states and the absolute refusal of a significant percentage of the population to give a damn about anybody other than themselves, I suspect the next 6 months is going to look a lot like the last 6 weeks. I’m working on the assumption that I won’t be getting on a plane, sitting down inside a restaurant or attending a sporting event or concert until Fall 2021 at the earliest.

I wonder what the world will look like then?

Random photo of a happier time.