Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. Mattie was in the clinic that day and was visited by United Airlines personnel. They came to visit the children and brought all sorts of gifts. Mattie received this cute teddy bear and a blue quilt. As you can see Mattie was beaming! I am not quite sure why he was so happy, because for the most part he didn't care for strangers or people who wanted to visit him. But I think because these individuals worked on airplanes, this intrigued him. As Mattie was all about the art of movement, locomotion, and the mechanics of transportation!
Quote of the day: Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest taken between two deep breaths. ~ Etty Hillesum
Peter tells me I could be a "prepper." Which is a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food and other supplies. I don't like to think in doomsday scenarios, but given the news and what I saw happening in China and on several cruise ships, we realized that having supplies and food on hand are important. So slowly we have been stocking up our pantry over the course of three weeks.
Who knew hand sanitizer would be a most valuable commodity!? In fact, if you try to buy some on the internet, it is like $40 a bottle. In any case, I went to the grocery store today, doing my weekly food shopping. I could tell just by the parking lot, that the store was busy! Which was odd to me on a Thursday afternoon, around 2pm. When I went inside, I could feel the level of stress and tension among the shoppers. I had one woman yelling at me to move my cart. It wasn't my cart mind you, but she did not want to touch it to move it herself so literally I did it for her before she freaked out. If that wasn't bad enough, the shelves looked practically empty, specifically for certain items like soup, pasta, canned goods, and other non-perishables! If you expect to find Clorox or Lysol, good luck!
It is quite a social commentary. I made sure I stayed with my cart at all times, because for instance I got the LAST Morton Salt, and it was frenetic enough inside for me to know that if people saw an item they wanted in another cart, they would take it. Even checking out of the grocery store was a nightmare. People were very edgy waiting on line. In fact, one woman behind me was so nervous, I made her go in front of me to check out. Any case, after over an hour in the store, I was ready for therapy! If you don't feel uneasy about the virus yet, then tune into everyone around you, it will be a real wake up call.
The news of what is happening to the cruise industry is down right scary.
Today Princess and Viking decided to suspend all cruises for the next 60 days. Totally unheard of. Check out the article below if you want to read more. All I know is the level of panic people are feeling, the total uncertainty and anxiety over will one get sick, what will happen to me and others...... is how Peter and I felt for 14 straight months when Mattie had cancer. It was at the same coronavirus level of intensity, uncertainty, and panic. I recognize the signs in others now, because I have been there personally. I can't say that my experience with cancer gives me a better perspective now as we face a health crisis on a national level. It doesn't, rather this pandemic evokes similar feelings that we had in 2008-2009.
Cruise lines Princess and Viking halt all cruises as coronavirus spreads:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/business/cruise-lines-princess-and-viking-suspend-operations-coronavirus/index.html
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