Throwback Thursday: The Last Normal

Abby…something or other…

Two years ago today. Okay, technically it would be two years as of March 12, but work with me.

Two years ago on this Thursday might have been the last normal day of our lives. If any day is really normal.

Sure, we were already seeing the panic in Italy. We were already seeing shelves with no toilet paper.

The next day, Friday, we were told to go home and be prepared to telework for a short time.  That Sunday evening we got the official word to stay at home.

But we were promised that all we needed was two weeks to flatten the curve.

Longest two damn weeks of my life.

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Your calendar may vary.

All for a virus with a better than 98% chance of recovery.

Don’t get me wrong Karen. It was a serious matter. Thousands of people died from the virus. I suspect that the measures we took did indeed save lives.

I also suspect that it’s possible we could have just protected the most vulnerable and have gone on with our lives.

Don’t even get me started about the political exploitation. We were played.

Stay home for others and people died alone.

Wear the mask for others when designer cloth masks are largely ineffective.

Get the shot for others but don’t worry about potential side effects.

I did all of those things. And while I had household members get the Omicron variant, even with my compromised immune system, I managed not to be infected.

NARRATOR: He takes a truckload of supplements.

Two years ago I told myself that I’d use the time to lose weight.

I told myself that I’d use the time to finish the novel.

I told myself that I’d learn to play the ukulele.

NARRATOR: He was lying.

I don’t remember what normal is anymore. I don’t know that I ever had a normal life.

During the worst of the shutdown I refused to use the term “The New Normal.” I still don’t accept it.

We may never really know if we did more good than harm. I sincerely suspect we did more harm.

Your misery index may vary.

And here we were looking toward our first “normal” summer since 2019 and Putin decides to invade Ukraine.

Speaking of which, if you think we’re not being played over the price of gasoline and what is really happening in Ukraine, then you’re not paying attention.

I mean, at this prices, who can afford to pay attention?


THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

Glenn Youngkin column: The General Assembly should give Virginians their money back
Richmond Times-Dispatch
We must use the multibillion-dollar surplus in Virginia’s budget to provide timely tax relief for all Virginians. Read More.

DeSantis accuses reporter of peddling ‘false narrative’ on education bill in heated press conference clash
FOXNews
“And the idea that you wouldn’t be honest about that and tell people what it actually says, it’s why people don’t trust people like you because you peddle false narratives. And so we just disabused you of those narratives.” Read More.

Here’s The Full List Of Every Lie Joe Biden Has Told As President: 139 And Counting
The Federalist
One year into his time in the White House and the end to President Joe Biden’s lies is nowhere in sight. Read More.

EXCLUSIVE: Deleted Web Pages Show Obama Led an Effort To Build a Ukraine-Based BioLab Handling ‘Especially Dangerous Pathogens’.
The National Pulse
The news comes on the same day that Biden regime apparatchik Victoria Nuland told the U.S. Senate that the American government is concerned about biological research facilities falling into Russian hands as a result of the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe. Read More.

BORN ON THIS DAY

1903 – Clare Boothe Luce, American playwright, journalist, and diplomat, US Ambassador to Italy (d. 1987)
1928 – James Earl Ray, American criminal; assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. (d. 1998)
1940 – Chuck Norris, American actor, producer, and martial artist
1971 – Jon Hamm, American actor and director

WHAT I’M READING


 

BENEDICTION

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

 

Though Weary, I Will Yet Rise

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Psalm 121

I am weary.

I suspect that you are as well.

Weary from COVID, the shutdowns, the masks, the vaccines, the misinformation, and the death.

I personally remain weary from Last Summer’s Great Unpleasantness ™.

I am weary because it’s been over two years since I’ve slept through the night. A two-hour stretch is rare these days.

I am weary from the news from Ukraine.

Mug Shots

I am weary from rising gas prices, and grocery prices, and…

You get the point.

It’s just very tiring.

Now, in the midst of my whinage here, let me fully state up front that I know that I am incredibly blessed with the things that I have.

I’m still blessed with my home, and my home office.

I’m still blessed with the means to take care of my health, even though it’s challenge and I am not bouncing back as quickly as I might have thought. As a matter of fact, when I fell in the ditch doing yardwork on Saturday, I didn’t bounce at all. Fortunately I was not injured.

I’m blessed that, even though we’re now spending in excess of $200 a week for gas, we’re currently able to manage it. Currently.

And no, Secretary Pete, we cannot go and spent $60,000 on an electric car to avoid Joe Biden’s gas prices. How tone-deaf can you possibly be?

I digress.

I’m also blessed that my family is not having to hide from the shelling, or flee the country, or turn and fight our oppressors.

Yet.

I’m still tired. So are you.

But here’s the thing. There is also hope.

Hope that I can, and will, rise above it.

Rise is one of my three words that I adopted earlier this year.

Admittedly, a mere two months ago, I was naïve enough to think I had a handle on the challenges.

I did not have WWIII and $5.00 gasoline on my Bingo card.

I am weary. You are weary.

But as I sit at my desk in the early morning hours, up early from the insomnia, I hear the birds singing outside my window. I don’t know them well enough to know what type of bird has a particular song.

But I hear hope. Hope of spring. Hope of better days to come.

Or perhaps I hear hope that I’ll rise up off of my ass and go fill the bird feeder.

I didn’t know it before I wrote this post, but today happens to be National Get Over It Day.

If I can just rise up from this chair.


THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

LCR Statement on Buttigieg, Biden Putting Iranian Oil on the Table
Log Cabin Republicans
“Pete Buttigieg was one of the most vocal supporters of destroying America’s energy industry when he ran for president. He’s now become so radical, he’d rather buy oil from LGBT-murdering regimes like Iran – regimes that would throw Buttigieg into prison simply for being gay – than produce more fossil fuel energy here at home.” Read More.

Biden to request $2.6B to promote gender equity worldwide
The Hill
President Biden will request $2.6 billion for foreign assistance programs that promote general equality worldwide, he announced on International Women’s Day on Tuesday. Read More.

Ukraine and the Line between Good and Evil
Todd Marshall in Firebrand
Only God knows how these events may or may not play into biblical prophecy. Regardless of your views of the last times, there are only so many probable outcomes that can happen in this situation. Read More.

BORN ON THIS DAY

1902 – Will Geer, American actor (d. 1978)
1943 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (d. 2008)

WHAT I’M READING


 

BENEDICTION

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26