How is Today Different from All Other Days?

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Today is April 15; and like the first of the four questions asked on Passover, I inquire, why is this April 15th different from all others? In this time of Co-vid all days are the same, and yet all days are different from others. Today our taxes aren’t due. Today we need to welcome the “stranger” only from a great distance, along with our friends and non-household relatives. Today we are to remain in place and wonder what day it is? Oh yes, Wednesday, the middle of the week, and our lives are not impacted by that fact, unless we have a virtual date scheduled, either for business or social reasons.  

Today is like all other days and like none of the ones we’ve experienced until a pandemic changed everything. Today like all the days since our devastating time of this disease, I check the numbers: how many are diagnosed,  how many people we’ve lost, I continue to count every loss as an offense against humanity when our so-called President hits the bottomless bottom: new ugly acts on his part: pitting States against States for necessary medical tests, equipment, resources; witholding the relief checks from people who need that money for surviving, so he can put his vile campaign signature on them! He withheld funding for the World Health Organization at this time of Co-vid! Today I find is no different from any other day when it comes to what I think about the maniac in the Whitehouse.

And I never considered myself to be a hypochondriac. I trust my ability to know when to be concerned about my cough, (asthma); my body aches from arthritis, my reactions to gluten; but when I don’t feel very well, I’m taking my temperature. That’s different.

I comfort myself with music, cooking, wine, being in my Garden of Tranquility, and I get to sit here in my bathrobe writing at midmorning. So this new rhythm of life is now the way it is. I am blessed with the loving family in my life, with being in reach of Paul’s arms for a hug, with being able to offer love and comfort to others. This is the same as all other days, but not so. As Joni Mitchell sang: “Don’t it always seem to go; you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” I know what I’ve got, and pray I don’t get the thing that’s taking so many lives.  That is how today is different from all other days. Knowing what we’ve got.