Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2006. Mattie was four years old. That day we received a cat toy from Peter's parents. I am not sure who was more intrigued by the toy..... Mattie or Patches? Mattie got the toy out, assembled it, and then tried to engage Patches to play with him. Patches was a smart cat and frankly she had one eye on Mattie and another on the toy. In any case, Mattie learned a lot about caring for a pet and its needs from growing up with Patches. When Mattie had friends (who did not have cats of their own) come over for a playdate, he would show them how to pet Patches and behave around her. From that it was clear that Mattie loved Patches.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 6,705,114
- number of people who died from the virus: 198,197
I had to pick up some preventable medications for Sunny today at the vet. I took Sunny with me in the car, because right after the pick up, I decided to give Sunny a two mile walk in the Palisades area of Washington, DC. As Sunny and I were walking around, all I could see in the yards were signs about wearing a mask and to practice social distancing. Certainly I get it, but what immediately came to my mind is..... how on earth can we ever return to normal? We have been taught to practically run the other way now when we see people, and avoid live interactions at all costs. We did not have time to grow into this new way of life, it was literally thrust upon us. For the health and safety of our communities, most of us complied and made a complete 180 to our regular way of life. But what happens if and when the virus is no longer a threat?
Will be go back to movie theaters, go out to dinner, attend sporting events, return to school, and participate in large gatherings? It's possible! Or is it possible that the psychosocial ramifications to COVID have transformed the way we conduct our lives? While being locked down, we have had to find other outlets and mechanisms to survive, communicate, work, and go to school. So I can't see returning to the way things used to be happening any time soon! There will be consequences on our lives and things that we once did, we won't be doing any more. We have either learned to do without it, or things we used to do have been replaced by something else.
For myself, I see a change from within. At one point in time, if you told me I had to relocate somewhere and leave Washington, DC, this would have upset me. Now, I feel less ties to anything. Most likely because of our daily existence which makes me feel disengaged, unconnected, and truly not a part of things around me. I realize everyone feels this way because of COVID, but I would say that after Mattie died, this was our baseline. It took great energy on my part to reinvest in the world, as in so many ways, I felt like the world no longer mattered if Mattie was not in it. Now that same empty feeling I worked through years ago is back. What's the answer? I don't have one, other than I take it one day at a time. A lesson I learned so well from Mattie's cancer journey.
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