Doctors. Nurses. Cashiers. Grocery Store Clerks. Pharmacists. Police Officers. Garbage Collectors. Individuals who work in:  Hospitals, Nursing Homes, and Grocery Stores. These individuals – who we call essential workers and who I call heroes, must continue to work in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Today, all anyone is talking about is social/physical distancing, washing hands, and being isolated.   A year from today, April 9, 2021, I will write another blog about where the world is at. One way or another, this current nightmare will pass and we will see better days ahead. The sun will rise. But for today, we are in a battle with an unknown and vicious enemy.

Most of the world is on pause…. except for the heroes.   Be thankful for our heroes. To the cashiers who are obviously under a tremendous amount of stress and who probably never thought how essential their service truly is.   These really are our unsung heroes.

For the rest of us…for a great majority, we are at home. And there is a big STOP SIGN in front of our lives. To be honest, as a writer (and I have spoken to other writer friends), isolating is not that much of a stretch. That’s what writers do, we isolate…come out for some fresh air every once in awhile…buy some groceries and back in we go.

But I know a great majority of people struggle with this concept of isolating and working completely from home. It’s hard for many of us to not see family members, friends and to stop all routines.  I think “the world” is trying to tell us something regarding this pandemic. The world – like we as individuals – feels a little sick right now and needs some time to heal. And so we must give it some time. We must have patience. It’s stressful, couples with children, children who can’t see their friends or elderly parents. Schools cancelled. Everything cancelled. Our lives have been turned upside down.

So what choice do we have but to look within? Some of us do this already. Some of us already embrace much of the silence when the world roars all around.  Now the world is not roaring and the silence is deafening. It can be a scary thing. But it can also be liberating, if you allow to.   Will we learn lessons from this? Who knows! But maybe this is a time just to slow down and stop – so that we can change the trajectory and ultimately squash this virus.

I know for me, my focus has been shot.   Just writing these few musings has been a struggle. I’ve begun, yet again, to re-work my play Animal, but it’s been very, very, slow. I have another screenplay in the works called CRAZY LADY (a black comedy), based in part, about the hell my mother has been through these last few months when we changed her anti-depressant and she became manic. This woman did not leave the house for over two months (so she’s already been self-isolating before it became a thing). And it is only been these last three weeks, when a specialist suggested a new drug that her trajectory changed and her general mood gradually improved. This is her today:

I don’t want to paint an overly rosey picture because she struggles with her energy daily and also the awful aches and pains that come with an aging body.   But her mind is back and she is once again herself. There is hope…

I live with hope. My writing reflects hope, which is often hard earned. That’s life. That’s today. Speranza means hope. And so I leave you with that and this quote, which I have used before from one of my favorite films, The Shawshank Redemption.

And to all the HEROES amongst us, better days ahead! Stay strong and safe everyone.