Well, it’s been a month since we started hunkering down because of C19. A month! We were about a week ahead of most people in our area. Call me conservative (for the first time ever).

A month feels like a long time, but I just read about a WWII survivor who sheltered in hiding for two years, alone. So we’re not exactly setting human endurance records here. With that perspective set, it still feels significant. This is the longest I’ve stayed away from work or social contacts in my life. No golf, no happy hours, no dinner parties, no cookouts. And there’s likely another solid 6-8 weeks coming.

But in truth, we have nothing to complain about. We have everything we need, and most of all, we have our health and each other.

I’ve read quite a bit about folks gaining weight while shut in. I certainly get that, as I’m fighting off the snack impulse morning, noon and night. I’ve never been a snack person, but right now if it’s in the house I’m going to consume it. Some are calling their in-progress weight gain the “COVID 19” or the “2020 virus 20”, as opposed to the freshman 15. I certainly hope it’s not a +19 after all this.

I keep trying to be productive during our isolation, and I’m having moderate success. I made great progress on my novel for a couple of weeks, but lately I’ve had to shift over to some proposal work for one of my companies. I needed to set the book aside anyway; I was stuck. When I get back to it I hope my subconscious will have solved all those roadblocking problems. We’ll see.

Somewhat less productively, I have watched a shit-ton of movies this month, mostly in the middle of the night. I’m sleeping poorly but catching up on films. Probably not wise, but I don’t have much control over my insomnia lately.

So has it really been a lost month, as the post title declares? I guess what’s “lost” is normalcy. All those things, trivial or crucial, that we used to do when we had choices about going out into the world. Ask me again in another month if it makes sense to go back to that old, pre-COVID normal. We’ll see…