8 Young at Heart February 2021 Unified Newspaper Group
My pandemic story is still being written My Blood Type is Coffee BY RHONDA MOSSNER
I
would venture to guess that I am not the only one who is glad that 2020 is behind us. It has been quite the adventure, from a raging virus to political unrest that continues into 2021. We all will have stories to tell future generations about our pandemic experiences. If you are not aware, the Wisconsin Historical Society invited Wisconsinites to document their thoughts, feelings and experiences during the pandemic and submit their work to be sealed for 100 years from now. It’s called the COVID-19 Journal Project. I believe it was early March of 2020 when I thought the pandemic might be worth documenting for future generations, and I soon afterward decided to sign up online for the project. I was asked to write a complete 30 day, 60 day or 90 day journal, and I started mine May 11. I assumed I’d do the 90 day option and be done with it. I thought it would be a huge personal accomplishment and something interesting to add to my limited daily routine. To my surprise, I’m still writing it. It seemed easy to start. We were in the middle of the big lockdown. I wrote about what I did to pass the time like gardening, reading and etc. I wrote about news of the day around the nation. As you might recall, New York City was really being hit at the time with COVID-19, and its numbers kept climbing. I started listening to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefing from Albany to get the facts I needed for my journal. I will admit there were some very grim days. I wrote about going out and worrying about contracting the virus. I wrote
about the fear I had after my neighbor stopped by without a mask and how before she left, she suddenly reached out and hugged me without warning. For a whole week I was terrified. I wrote about how I didn’t even know where to go for a test if I started having symptoms. What if I went to get tested at a clinic and then picked it up while I was there? I kept asking when it would end. It was only supposed to last just a few weeks! I was one of those people who wiped down the groceries with bleach water. Yes, I did. I also wiped down the outside handles of my vehicle, the steering wheel, radio knobs and gear shift and inside door handles and window controls with sanitizer after each outing. Augh! It was exhausting, but I did it. Soon, I had the George Floyd story and the Black Lives Matter to write about. I started asking myself where I stood on issues and why I felt as I did. I thought about which influencers in my life encouraged me to think as I did. All that went into the journal. Soon, my daily entries become an exercise in self- discovery I had never experienced before as a writer. I found myself asking for answers to questions that simply needed answers.
I don’t suppose that was ever the intent of the journal project, but I wonder how many others found that to be true. The common thread throughout was the tumultuous political scene. There were many times when I simply could have left out that element, but it played a leading role in my tale of what some might call woe. However, in each day there is some good. Sometimes I had to look for it, but it was there. It just wouldn’t have been the story of 2020 without the politics. There was a lot going on during that first 90 days of writing. When it was over, on Aug. 11, I received an email asking me to submit my contribution. I immediately emailed back and said I simply had more to say. I suggested I write through Election Day. On Nov. 4, I would wrap it up. The president would either be reelected or a new president would be taking office in January. It seemed like the perfect place to end my story. Inauguration Day was my next deadline. We will just have to see how it goes after that. In addition to her blog, theDanglingThread. blogspot.com, Rhonda Mossner is a professional speaker, quilter and chef.
