Yesterday, I had a small taste of the “new normal”. I had a medical appointment in the city and it was the first time I had been out in the general public in seven weeks. Of course I have been for walks in my neighbourhood and enjoyed a visit in my driveway with a friend, but other than that...zip! I have been super cautious, so yesterday was a new and strange day and experience.
The day began with the drive to the city
where my appointment was scheduled. Ordinarily, the stretch of highway that
links our town to this city is always busy. Yesterday, the traffic was almost
non-existent. There were trucks but private vehicles were few and far between.
It was a quick and easy trip.
When we pulled up outside the doctor’s
office, I called to let them know we had arrived. Rules and regulations say
that there aren’t to be any people in the general waiting area. When approved,
Lyle and I donned our face masks and with our hand sanitizer in our pockets, we
entered the building. Masks were a requirement.
It was an odd feeling to be talking with the
doctor and the receptionist – the first strangers I had had a face-to-face
conversation with in nearly two months. I know that some commentators have
compared our COVID isolation experience to that of astronauts. I wonder how
these men and women adjusted to life back on earth after their space isolation.
Even after only seven weeks, I know that I had a feeling of unreality – almost
like being in or waking up after a dream.
Wearing the face mask didn’t help. I found
that the mask blurred my vision even more than it is usually blurred. The heat
of my breath seemed to mist by eyes and looking down was tricky. I was glad not
to be wearing glasses.
After my appointment, Lyle and I stopped at
Costco and for the first time I went into the store with Lyle. It was all
different. We needed to line up outside for ten minutes or so as staff controlled
the number of people allowed in the store at one time. Our shopping cart handle
was wiped down as we entered the store. Inside, I found that other customers
seemed to be unusually silent as they went about their shopping. Were they grim
or just concentrating on keeping a physical distance? I don’t really know. I
know that I was concentrating hard on staying right beside Lyle and our own
shopping cart.
Since arriving home again, I have been
reflecting on the day’s adventure. I think that in a small way, I can compare
it to my first ventures out on my own after my sight changed. This time Lyle
was with me but even so I was anxious and nervous about what I might encounter.
I struggled with the further diminished field of vision brought about by the
face mask.
However, I think that there is also a wide difference
between the two experiences. When my sight changed, I was the only one in my
community who was coping with what was to become for me a “new normal”. The
loss of my sight was a very personal challenge and for the most part I needed
to work out how to overcome the hurdles of lost vision on my own. In these
current times, we are in the boat together. We are all coping with a changed
and changing world. As we work out how to overcome the hurdles of how to live
with the threat of the corona virus, I am hopeful that the new normal of today
will soon evolve into a brighter and more optimistic new normal of the world
tomorrow.
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