Day Eighty-Eight: Preparation and a Rant

Thursday (Day Eighty-Eight):

This day was a day to prepare for a guest. A guest during a pandemic? Yes, but a special guest who has been quarantined a long enough time for us to feel reasonably sure he would not bring the virus to our household. Our 15-year-old nephew Owen, who has been stuck at home with his parents for eighty-eight days. 

I know he's only a 15-year-old, and probably is used to living a messy existence, but I had some cleaning to do to prepare for his arrival anyway. I do this any time anyone visits: the mad whirlwind to restore order to the house that is most often in an embarrassing state of disarray. In this case we had to move the futon out of the living room and into "Mimi's room" (we're trying to train ourselves to call it the guest room, but it's a hard habit to break). That then meant I had the opportunity to rearrange all the furniture in the living room, which was satisfying. 

The kids were beside themselves with excitement at Owen's arrival. They adore him. We all adore him. He was three when I moved to Arkansas and he was the first person besides Jeremy that I fell in love with here. It was easy to do - he has always been a sweet kid. It's weird that he's taller than me now, and such a teenager, hair flopped to one side, cool detachment his default mode. But I'm so glad to have him spending some time with us, so we can get to know teen-Owen better. 

On the pandemic front, things have been getting worse and worse in Arkansas. I know I said early on that this felt like a distant threat. It feels very close now. Cases in Northwest Arkansas are spiking. Cases in our less populous county are also growing. We heard that the local Lowe's, where we've been getting building and farming supplies, had two employees (at least) test positive. It's time to batten down the hatches. Yet, the governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, is being a reckless wrongheaded fool, moving to "Phase 2" of "opening up" the economy. Like it's a door you can just open and close. Like it's ever been closed. Certain businesses within a large, faulty economy based on wasteful consumption have been closed. It's hurt the poorest people the most, but I don't think "opening up" the economy is going to help those people who need the most help. I think it's going to expose them disproportionately to the virus as they are forced to return to work. 

Most people here in Arkansas haven't taken this pandemic seriously enough from the start. So many stubbornly refuse to wear masks at the grocery store. They're not going to behave cautiously if you let them go to restaurants and movies and whatever else. I see pictures online of people I know having parties, get-togethers, weddings, going to restaurants... I just cannot comprehend why they're all letting their guard down now, when it is at such a critical moment in the spread of the virus. I know, oh do I know, how tiring this is, how nice it would be to relax and act like a deadly virus isn't threatening our communities, but come on, people. I wish we had a leader - either in the state or the country - who would make the hard decision to shut things down hard and fast. People are going to suffer and die because of Asa's recklessness. It pains me that he is focusing so much on "the economy" and so little on the very lives of his constituents. His decision spells out in plain language how greed-driven our system is, and how little compassion for our fellow humans comes into play. 

A painted rock from the school garden.
I don't know who the artist was, but it is beautiful.