We asked readers to help document the COVID-19 response with photos and stories. Here’s this week’s selection from Holly Hein of Pullman who will receive a $20 gift certificate to an area business. Submissions can be emailed to contests@inland360.com with “C-19” in the subject line.
What I miss the most isn’t what one might expect
I recently read an article on the importance of our daily interactions with strangers. Ironically, it was written right before we were all forced to have little, if no, encounters with strangers. It made me realize what I’ve been missing most.
Keeping in touch with friends and family members has been possible in some of the ways we have available to us: chatting, FaceTiming, Zooming, Marco Polo videos, texting, distance walks. Even though we have limited hugs and touches, we know what’s going on with our usual people.
I have received lengthy emails from friends I haven’t heard from in quite awhile and “friend” requests from a surprising number. We’re all on our computers every day now, so we are reviewing contact lists to see who might possibly want to hear from us.
During this time of no dinners with friends -- or meetings, haircuts, church gatherings, yoga classes, errands to the bank or the dog groomer, graduation parties, shopping for new stuff -- I am beginning to worry that I won’t want to do any of those things once we can again. In a way, this is introvert/homebody heaven.
It’s the people I ran into during those usual days that I miss, their smiles and nods, the “how are you’s” the banter at the cash register, the guy at the post office that could just make my day, the barista who poured my tall drip with no room, the guy who passed me on the track with a “how ya’ doin’?” I miss those interactions. I’m wondering how they all are doing.
Those people I pass now on a walk or at the store move far out of my way. They look away as if once our eyes meet, I will pass my germs to them or as if those wearing masks might be contemplating holding up the store.
It’s all odd. We can’t hug or even shake hands with anyone these days! But we are doing as we must. We are “social distancing” and “sheltering in.” We are doing this for each other, and that’s what is bringing us closer together, not the interactions, but the solidarity that we are doing as we should, and that the day will come when we can gather and say, “we did it!”
-- Holly Hein, Pullman
