This Pandemic Life - Seven Months In

 The world is a crazy place right now.

We are now seven months into this Covid-19 pandemic, and there isn't a near end in sight.

I say that because I just got a news alert on my phone saying Arkansas set a new record high number of Covid cases in the past 24 hours with 1,278 cases. New record high. Seven months in. Awesome.

And have I mentioned there's a presidential election happening in less than a month and the nation is more divided than ever? The division is bleeding into churches, with lots of disagreement and people leaving over issues deemed "political," such as face masks, systemic racism, and a myriad of other things.

Republicans and Democrats are clinging to their parties for dear life and ruthlessly vilifying anyone or anything associated with the opposers. I guess every election year is like that but it's either worse this year, or I'm just paying closer attention.

Schools are back in session, and most places of business (the ones that are still open) and churches have reopened, but masks are required pretty much everywhere and only a limited number of people can be allowed inside buildings so as to allow for social distancing.

For the past couple of months, I've been going to church on Sunday mornings as I am on staff, but Leslie has been staying home with Audrey. The nursery and toddler classrooms open back up this weekend, but we're not ready to take Audrey yet. As a matter of fact, Audrey hasn't been inside of a store or church since we started quarantining back in March.

She has however, started seeing her grandparents again, as my staff team began meeting in person again once a week a couple of months ago. And although I still use grocery pickup to get our groceries and avoid going into the store, I sometimes sneak into a thrift store or Hobby Lobby on a morning my parents have Audrey or on a Saturday when Leslie is home, and I savor those times.

Have we avoided getting Covid thus far? Well, we think so. But we don't really know. We haven't been tested. But the symptoms vary so much from person to person, with some claiming to have no symptoms at all, you could honestly have it and never know it.

The most common way to get tested for Covid is to have a long swab stick stuck up your nose, basically all the way back to your throat. Then it gets swirled around. Pretty sure both sides of your nose get done. I don't know that I could survive that. I come close to having a panic attack during strep tests. 

Ragweed allergies are bad right now and have been for over a month. Did you know the symptoms of ragweed allergies mimic the symptoms of Covid? They do! Including the potential for loss of taste and smell. Isn't that just the darnedest?

The picture below is from July, taken in the parking lot of Target. This was only my second time in a place of business since March. (The first time was in a children's consignment store and went undocumented. I remember no one was wearing a mask so I didn't either. It had to have been in the early days of the pandemic because masks have been mandated since July.)