The Thing about Ends

The first time I heard about the coronavirus, it was an off-hand mention by my husband, waaaaay back in December. In Pandemic Time (TM), that feels like a decade. In December, China still seemed a safe distance away and it really wasn't all that weird to hear that another virus emerged from the cesspools of exotic animal marketplaces and crowded factory farms that I see in my mind's eye. New Years Eve came and went with all the promise each sparkling clean January 1 deserves.

Just take up knitting, Mr. Coyote.

In early January, I heard enough that I began to follow what the media then called it a "novel coronavirus". We were told then that it was zoonotic (bat, pangolin, or both), but had jumped to humans. The Chinese government seemed to be taking some extreme steps to put and to keep people in quarantine. Video emerged of people being dragged out of their apartments kicking and screaming. Others of people being stuck in a small box on the back of a truck, carried away to somewhere unknown. Some people were welded into their apartments. This was not the flu. Following the news about the virus became my hobby. I should really have taken up knitting, or taught myself French, because knowing didn't help anymore than seeing the train coming when you are on the train tracks, Wile E. Coyote-style.

We dubbed this "Pandemic Day."

Fast forward to March, because what happened in between was a lot of political gobbledy-gook that other people will cover ad nauseum for the next hundred years probably.

What a March it has been! It has truly been the longest March in human history. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) labeled the novel coronavirus a "pandemic" and suddenly the earth shifted underneath our feet. As people say of the moment they learned of the assassination of JFK, I will never forget where I was when I learned of this. I was touring Biltmore House in Asheville with two of my dearest friends. I had already decided this was my last outing, as we understood that my children and parents were all at elevated risk if they caught the virus. We ate in two restaurants that day. Like, inside. Sitting at tables. Surrounded by other people. All things that are not done in the year that the last three and a half weeks has felt like.

All that to say, the Thing about Ends is that you never know when they are coming. At the beginning of March, kids went to school. Families went to church. They had plans for Spring Break. They went to amusement parks and attractions, like we did. We all used to go to the grocery store without feeling like we needed to wear a hazmat suit or to call on our ninja skills to avoid touching anything or breathing any air. We had friends over. We met at pubs. We had book club meetings. Life was normal, until suddenly it wasn't.