Sept 13

Acrid smoke filled the morning skies in the Okanagan Valley. Smoke so thick I could taste it when I opened the door. I had hoped that we had avoided a summer of smoky skies. Unfortunately wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington rage out of control. Fires so intense they could be seen from space. Smoke so overwhelming it covered much of the western part of North America.

I looked out the window and searched for the sun. A yellow disc glowed dimly in the sky, the haze felt apocalyptic as it enveloped our world.

In the cataclysmic world of 2020, it should come as no surprise that we could not avoid the smoke from forest fires. I find the smoke oppressive as if the world is closing in and we no longer are able to fully breathe. I feel sympathy for those that work outside, I am glad I am able to stay indoors even though I long to be outside. The outside feels forbidding. I feel anxiety around the idea of venturing forth outside my home. With fires raging south of the border, I empathize with my American friends and hope that soon rains will come to help bring things under control.

I await the time to go pick up my daughter from school with a mix of emotions. I dread going outside, I don’t think there is any hesitation to wear a mask today. I may even be one of those people that I laugh at for wearing a mask inside a vehicle on their own. A mask does offer some protection from the particulates invading our lungs. This is a threat we can see, feel, and taste. Now our kids are shut up inside the schools, with no social distancing and no masks being mandated. Time will tell if the virus that has threatened the world will return with a vengeance or fade away like so many fears of our past.

I understand some people’s mistrust of the mainstream media. The news has become about fires now, about climate change, about Trump denying climate change. I am tired of everything being about some disaster or another. We have been inundated with the problems of the world and very little with solutions.

My daughter is in school again. I hope they are looking for solutions in the midst of all these problems. I hope they can find a way to move forward. If the second wave doesn’t come and schools don’t have a spike in cases will they begin to open things up without a vaccine? Case numbers rise as testing numbers rise, will the school be a safe place or a place of fear? Will higher numbers still equal higher illness and death or have we developed our own defense against our viral foe.

We sit hunkered down inside to protect ourselves from a visible foe, a foe that can be seen and felt. We know to stay safe, to stay indoors, to take precautions, to wear a mask to protect ourselves. It is easy to draw a parallel with the invisible threat we have faced for the last six months.

There are still many more questions than answers. When the smoke dissipates we can return to the outside, return to our normal existence. What will it take to return from our self-isolation caused by Covid19? How long until we can leave the coronaverse and return to living life without fear.