I should, I guess pick up where I left off, which was in May of this year. After I got home and recovered from jet lag, things got interesting, at least in the news. The death of a man at the hands of the police led to wide scale protesting and rioting across the country. It became obvious that Joe Biden was going to be the Democrat nominee to run against President Trump in the November election. All this in the ongoing shadow of Coronavirus which has continued to ebb and flow like the angry respirations of a chain-smoking giant. Constantly trying to understand and keep up with the latest media dicta is exhausting. I am glad my friends are friends without labels or agenda.
Let’s see…I attended my nephew’s graduation from HS, took two trips to Pensacola, one to Columbus, my brother had his heart operated on and came through like a champ, and I helped plant, tend and harvest from a massive garden and spent a lot of time with my parents and friends, using the appropriate coronavirus safeguards. The global buzz-word is “social distancing.” I remember when we could kiss on a first date without first getting a medical history and temperature check.
In August I finally got a waiver to travel to Sicily where I had signed on to Magellan Health to work as an MFLC. Long story short, the company I worked with for years essentially lost the contract over this Coronavirus. The official word is they simply opted to not continue in this work. The truth is out there but like the virus, we may never know the truth. Apparently, I am the only one to get the waiver so I feel pretty special. My waiver says I am critical to the infrastructure of the US Government operations, yeah, I feel special and after quarantine in Sicily for 14 days, finally got to work. My apartment is decent and I can walk easily uphill to the castle and have a look at the local volcano, Mount Etna, which is always steaming and occasionally erupting.
So now September is ending and the first rains have arrived. This is the season for the weather to start getting cooler and wetter. Holidays are upon us and ‘tis the season to celebrate all the good things in life: family, friends, faith, and hope for a bright new year. It can’t be any worse than 2020. And as the year comes to an end with death and destruction affecting all of us in some way, we will have a presidential election which I am sure will be met with quiet dignity and grace.
