Day Four: Hitting the Wall!

Day Four

Hitting the Wall

Life in the light of the Corona Virus

Hawaii, paradise, Garden of Eden, immune to the Corona Virus! NOT! What follows is a 14 day diary of the typical day and thoughts of a person living in Hawaii but under quarantine, isolation, social distancing, call it what you will. Any way you define it, it means changing the way you interact with others in order to protect yourself and those you meet and congregate with. It is a morphing experience, differing from day to day over the weeks. Enjoy the journey, grow with it, think the thoughts and create ones of your own.

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Ok, so I think I have officially hit the wall. This actually marks day 6 for me as I started self-isolating a week ago tomorrow. The county and state edict was following close on the heels of my awareness of the severity of the situation. When all my meetings and club work and tutoring and programs were cancelled, potlucks were off limits, and life seemed changed, I self-isolated. It took a few days longer for it to become statewide and official. Six is officially day four. No wonder I am stir crazy; my day count is all off!

I think I check my email at least 20 times a day. Just to be sure I don’t miss anything, or anyone. I am reading posts from people I hardly know. And worse yet, responding to them! They must wonder who I am and how I got their post! No one has been rude or rejecting, so I am assuming they are just as stir crazy as I am and overjoyed to receive just about anything. "There are people alive out there! They care about what I just wrote enough to comment! It’s a wonderful world after all." And how long ago did I meet you and exchange “friend” status, and where exactly did we meet? Its all good.

And the news is on a continuous loop! Same thing over and over. We share that among ourselves as through no one else has a TV or national news feed except us.

So today they closed the beach parks. Can they do that? Who is they? It seems to mean that you can not park in the parking lots and cannot sit on the grass and not play on the play equipment or use the bathrooms. It is not possible to prohibit people from using the beach, as the beach belongs to the people in the state of Hawaii. At least that is my theory. It was put to the test by a friend who was sitting on the grass, looking out at the ocean. He was visited by a friendly policeman who kindly asked him to go and sit on the sand, not in the park. Wow! Now that’s a first! And a parking lot that has recently been converted to a hotel parking area and only partial public parking, has the public parking side closed. Wonder how that is going to go over? The hotel will soon be empty and closed and then the whole parking lot will be empty, and the street around it will be crowded with cars. What exactly did we accomplish?

So many people live within walking distance of the beach, and will just walk there, not drive, and the parking issue will be mute. Is this Social Distancing about the virus? Or about climate change and the use of fossil fuel?

So many questions, so few answers?

Another interesting piece of isolation trivia. I was told that people in cities are getting dogs from the shelters. Why you ask? First of all, for company. And second of all, so they would have an excuse to get outside and walk them. Wonder what will happen to all those dogs when people go back to work? Will they be returned to the shelter? Will they have become so loved that they are maintained in the small apartments? And without their new owners will they be so bored that they eat the couch? Or dig holes in the door trim or rip up their chew toy and scatter the remains throughout the apartment. Will owners rush home at lunch to walk them? And come home to a welcoming friend at night instead of visiting the neighborhood bar where they meet friends? This whole thing could be life changing. For dogs and humans! Maybe a cat on a leash would be an alternative? Then when arriving home after a long day at work, the welcome could be more like that of a moody teenager, left without attention for the whole day.

It came to my awareness that gardeners are now considered essential. When all other forms of enterprise have been closed, and businesses of all kinds are idle, the gardeners are still hard at work, manicuring lawns and trimming hedges and cutting back trees. Here in the tropics, that is probably wise, as two weeks without attention leaves you with an overgrown lawn, bushes growing in through the window frames, and trees encroaching on your roof. Thank you for the attention you are showing to our ability to actually open our doors and get in and out!

Fishermen are abundant on the ocean. No restaurants to sell fish to, but they are out there in droves anyway. There was a lone wake boarder enjoying the glassy water. Too bad that is illegal during the whale season. But they will find out soon enough! In the meantime, enjoy!

The isolation view from the beach is quiet, but pretty much normal.

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This is the fourth in a 14 entry series chronicling the first 14 days of the Corona Virus quarantine on the island of Maui, Hawaii The fifth day will be published tomorrow, tune in to read it at: https:KarenMac1999.wixsite.com.website-1 then click BLOG or enter this address on your favorites drop down on your computer. Do you have comments or additions? Send them to Karenmac1999@hotmail.com. They are welcome.