¡Gracias por compartir! / Thanks for sharing!

«There is one thing I know for sure; you won’t be the same after this is all over, and we definitely won’t be the same either. None of us«.

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Dear Planet,

Today marks exactly 2 weeks of quarantine in our home. As a mute witness of this world wide crisis, I wonder what you are feeling right now… Probably relieved because you are healing, but also worried because you can feel the uncertainty and fear of millions of people; that heavy energy floating around must be overwhelming for you too. So, you are probably wondering, why there can’t be a balance?

That is exactly what I have been wondering too.

Here at home I feel safe, my 9-year-old son and husband are right here with me so I consider myself lucky. My husband leaves the house once a week to get food supplies. He wears an industrial overall, a workout head scarf, a mask and gloves. As soon as he gets home, he takes all those things off and leaves them outside, including shoes; he also disinfects all the supplies he brings and then takes a shower. We watch his movements from certain distance, hoping he didn’t bring the virus with him, and after all the procedures, we continue with our quarantine lives.

Inside our home everything is ok. We have water, electricity, gas and basic supplies, which is great. For now, we can buy the basics, but there will a point where we won’t be able to. My husband works independently providing Engineering services; if he doesn’t go out and work, money does not come. Therefore, uncertainty grows day by day.

There is one thing I know for sure; you won’t be the same after this is all over, and we definitely won’t be the same either. None of us.

Outside our home everything seems to be falling apart. Governments don’t know what to do, hospitals are not prepared for so many infected people; even some of the most powerful countries in the world are not prepared for all that’s coming. Actually, nobody seemed to be prepared for a pandemic crisis. It’s ironic really, all those countries buying and producing weapons, but not one made a contingency plan and protocols for pandemics.

At home, reading about what’s happening locally and worldwide is an everyday habit, I haven’t watched the news in years! My husband was always the informed one, and filled me in with the relevant news, but now I am also into that. We both talk a lot about what’s happening and how would the world get back up from this, including us.

We try to keep busy, our kid has homework and online classes, he has reading time, languages lessons with me; we do different activities, depending on what we feel like doing for fun, and he also has his Fortnite time where he meets with his school friends. Wi-Fi comes and goes, signal is terrible because obviously, everyone is online, so we try not to rely on it much.

My husband reads, studies and learns about new things from his field. He works out every morning inside the house, and he cooks lunch every day.

I read a lot; I’ve been writing a lot lately as well. You know… Doing things I’ve never had time to do. Also, the usual chores which never end, and the activities with my son. I’ve also been able to try new pastry recipes, I never had time to do that before, so I try recipes that have basic ingredients that I keep in my kitchen.

What I have noticed, is that we’ve started to feel the struggles of being locked up. Specially my son. Two days ago, he got angry with me because I asked him to do a bit more of music homework, but he started screaming and after a while started crying. I freaked out because that is not his usual behavior. When he calmed down, he said that he wants to go back to school, he wants to see his friends and have normal classes. I felt awful… I didn’t realize this change would affect him that much. At the end of the day, despite his online encounters with his pals, he feels trapped.

Even though some say we should keep our kids distracted, I think that they should also know the situation (of course no images, and a PG version). After all, they will always remember that time of their lives when they couldn’t go to school. Besides, if they are aware of the pandemic and the mistakes we are making, they will definitely try to do better in the future, don’t you think, Planet?

On the other hand, there are thousands of people who have no home, others live in a small room with many people, others work on the streets and earn money by the day selling food, drinks… For them this situation is especially tragic, as I’m sure you’ve seen.

On top of that, because the virus is not mortal (the death rate is about 1%), thousands of people are not taking quarantine seriously, and they are spreading the virus, causing the deaths of thousands of people. In fact, these past few days, babies have died, and people in their 20s, 30s and 40s have also died due to COVID-19, which means this virus could kill anyone.

Yesterday morning, we learned that 2 nurses killed themselves in Italy, that really scared me Planet, it really did. I cannot imagine how doctors and nurses are feeling right now… They must feel drained, devastated, scared and psychologically unstable. You know that there are not enough hospitals in the world for so many infected if people don’t remain home…

As days become slower and slower, we can only hope people will stay home and avoid spreading the virus, we hope Governments make the right decisions, and scientists find a vaccine as soon as possible.

I am happy that you are feeling better Planet, hopefully soon, you will stop feeling all the scary vibes around the world. Imagine how awesome would be if after this crisis, people will find a way to keep you healthy!

I will write another letter in a couple of weeks, I’m curious about how my brain will be by then, and how the world will be as well.

xoxo,

MJ

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¡Gracias por compartir! / Thanks for sharing!