I’m trying to find a silver lining in all this pandemic business, and I think I’ve succeeded. It started with a shift in my attitude about small things like hand washing. I must admit that before the coronavirus I sometimes shirked my responsibilities in the hand-washing department.
When I was in a rush, I would simply rinse them off. Today, that’s not good enough. This COVID-19 virus has made hand washing a necessity. Rather than look at it as a chore, I’ve been looking forward to it. Since I’ve started pretending that I’m washing Chris Hemsworth, I can spend 10 minutes scrubbing my hands spotless, no problem.
Another good thing about the pandemic is if you had a birthday during our shelter-in-place orders than you can by law postpone turning a year older until after we all get on with our lives.
Seriously though, I have compiled a COVID-19 top 10 list. I know this may seem counterintuitive but hear me out.
Lately, when I’ve been driving around town I’ve seen a lot of dads playing early morning pickup basketball games with their kids in their front yard basketball courts. It makes me smile every time I see it.
Overall, I’m seeing more and more families together outside riding bikes, walking and running. This can only be a good thing for everyone.
No. 8 on the list is that everyone in town seems friendlier. For instance, at the grocery story, I don’t see people rushed and in a hurry to get out. When walking, while keeping a distance, a greeting with walkers is almost always exchanged, sometimes it’s a wave, other times it’s “Hi, how are you holding up?” and sometimes there’s a brief talk about the craziness of how we’re living. This pandemic seems to have made almost everyone nicer.
In times of crisis, people band together and make contributions to charity. This pandemic is no different. People are contributing to charities and giving bigger tips to drive-thru restaurants. They are donating locally to churches and charities and giving food to front line workers and grocery story employees.
No. 6 on the list would have to be that people are understanding the importance of local newspapers. Because large portions of the public are staying home amidst the pandemic, people are relying more heavily on local news to stay updated and connected. The firehouse of information coming daily via TV and social media is overwhelming and getting COVID-19 news from locally sourced media is a comfort to many.
At home, we’re eating dinner as a family every day now. Before the pandemic we would manage dinnertime together three times a week or less because everyone was busy.
Speaking of dinner, No. 4 would have to be shopping for groceries. Early on in this pandemic when the grocery stores were trying to keep up with demand and ran out of items I normally bought, I was forced to try new products. Because I’m a creature of habit, I would never normally buy non-meat items. We discovered Lightlife Smart Ground Meatless Original Crumbles and now I will only use this product to make picadillo.
No. 3 and 2 would have to be the environmental good we’re doing to our planet with so many of us staying home. The canals in Venice are clearer and air pollution is down. There are great images of China and India where a person can actually see the skyline.
The No. 1 thing about this pandemic is that the Flowbee is more popular than ever. After nearly a month of physical distancing, everyone is looking shaggy.
People are realizing that they don’t have pull out their clippers and give themselves lopsided, patchy and mangled quarantine hairdos. Instead people are buying the 1980s hair cutter that uses a vacuum to clip their locks.
“I noticed sales going up a month or so ago,” said Troy, an employee who answered the phone at the Kerrville based facility. “We’re still here making an amazing product. In fact I’m in the facility getting units out.”
The 30-year-old company closed for two weeks.
“We took two weeks off to do our part during this pandemic, but we’re back at work and fired up the molds,” Troy said.
I remember the 3 a.m. infomercials that ran in the ‘80s that showed the revolutionary vacuum-cleaner hair-cutting system. With this shelter-in-place order, they are making a comeback.
“You can give yourself a haircut, without having to use scissors. You can be self-reliant,” Troy said. “It’s as easy as
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