Hummingbirds are zooming around the feeder. A fritillary butterfly sucks nectar from the purple chive plant flower. Trees and grass are a lush green. Even the sun is shining.
But I do not have that light-hearted “summery” feeling. I feel trapped and beleaguered and nothing done by Mother Nature seems to rid me of this feeling.
My life, as well as multitudes of others, is not in my control. And plainly put—I do not like it.
For months, I was not supposed to leave my house other than to go somewhere “essential.” Who deemed what was “essential” is another contentious question left for future debate.
When I did leave my abode to go somewhere necessary, I was appalled to see the entire town of Grand Marais shut down.
It was the Great American Lockdown, which we were all told was necessary to keep oodles and oodles of humans from succumbing to a flu.
Seeing Grand Marais as a ghost town was a shock. The streets were deserted. Restaurants dark and closed, hardly a person in sight. I’ve never understood the term, dystopia until now.
Grocery stores were closed. No one I talked to outside of Cook County had closed grocery stores. We were an anomaly. Oh yes, curbside service and deliveries were available if I called ahead with a grocery list and used my credit card or a check. Cash was not accepted! What??? Isn’t cash legal tender?
Next step was to pick up my order, which meant arranging my day on the whim of someone else, not to mention giving a notification call once I was in close proximity to the store.
My grocery list had to be totally accurate. Things could get confusing if I wanted a certain brand or a specific item. All this was so much more difficult and time-consuming than doing it myself.
I put up with this several times before I said “blankety- blank” and headed for Two Harbors where I could simply walk into a store and shop. This was considerably easier and that includes the hourplus drive.
Two months after all this hullabaloo about sheltering in place and lockdown, I’m hearing from various news stories that states without strict rules seem to have fared no worse than states that did.
The lockdown made little or no difference. In other words, all the folderol was unnecessary.
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