PANDEMIC STORIES

Drawing as Self-Discovery

In these “uncertain times”

My first drawing during my processing of the pandemic. © Chris A Raymond

I remember those early days after the US had declared a public health emergency, when I got up at the crack of dawn to walk over to the grocery store for its designated “senior hour.”

I’m not sure if grocers thought seniors didn’t sleep very much or if they decided this would be the window during which they’d have the least impact on their bottom line — but 6am?

The experience was something out of Twilight Zone, walking around in a hastily made cloth face mask, trying to tune out the weird background buzz permeating the store during that early hour. Automated door alarms they couldn’t turn off? It was almost as if we seniors were being subjected to auditory assault as punishment for the character flaw of being old and vulnerable.

Grocery shopping became a drawn out process: Arriving home to unpack involved putting on latex gloves, grabbing a precious antiseptic wipe in short supply, and wiping down all the boxes and packages of virus droplets.*

The entire food shopping rigamarole might explain why I actually lost weight the first six months working from home…