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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Around March 15, Brooklyn and New York City went into PAUSE - meaning we were told to stay home and quarantine - (those of us who could afford to.) My partner has prostate cancer and a compromised immune system, so I'm a caregiver and have to be very careful of any interactions I have outside our home, for fear of bringing the virus home to him, and for fear that I might carry it in an asymptomatic way. In order to keep myself calm, and to prevent myself shutting down emotionally, I began to do a sketch in my sketchbook as frequently as possible to record and remember what these days are like. It helped me slow down my own racing thoughts -- and to focus on at least one thing that day that I noticed. I found lots of beauty in the simple things. And gratitude for things I wouldn't have noticed during "normal times." At first, time seemed to stretch out slowly as we were quarantining. When I was kid, I used to to draw to calm myself down from stormy family situations. Now I'm 63, and sketching still brings enjoyment and meaning, and helps me to relax and slow down. These are like sketch meditations. The first sketch is of D. sitting outside in the back garden. We tried to get out back whenever the days were warmer, because we were protected from outsiders there. This is dated March 15, 2020. This is one of my fast pencil sketches. The second sketch is dated March 24, 2020. My son and his girlfriend live upstairs. She is 31 and undergoing post breast cancer treatments so they quarantine deeply. They don't go to the laundromat, so I do their laundry. My dryer was broken at the time, so I had to drape their wet laundry all over the dining room.Every article of clothing seemed a bit stressed and restless, so I tried to capture that -- in this sketch.
January 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Living Alone – All of the time. Perhaps I am too informed. I hang out with epidemiologists and stay on top of the numbers myself. I have risk factors, so I am very, very careful. I never let anyone inside my home, with the rare exception of a technician who needs access to my basement. In that case, they enter and exit via the bulkhead with no contact with me – and I keep the basement closed off from the rest of the house for days. I never let anyone in my car, except for repairs – and that is really very stressful… lots of disinfecting ensues and I let the car air out in the garage for days. I am very careful. I haven’t seen the inside of a store since last February. I only occasionally get take-out food, and I treat the packaging like hazardous material. Food is then microwaved prior to eating. I talk to people by phone or Zoom, and only visit my son outside, with masks, and distanced. This happens rarely as he has recently relocated a bit closer to me but is busy with work and fixing up his new house. I am very careful – but I live alone all of the time. The isolation is the very worst part of being very careful. My blessings? I can work at home, I have a house with a bulkhead and garage. I am financially OK with good health insurance. My kids are grown – so I don’t have to worry about their education. In many ways I am quite lucky. And yet it is so very hard… I can only imagine how hard life is for those who struggle in situations far more challenging than mine. I am exhausted. God grant us strength to get through the next few months…
October 25, 2020