My sister, nephew and his wife came back from a trip to Disney World with their little ones and then tested positive for Covid. The Mouse is a louse.
Two of our neighbors down the street contracted it while in Missouri. For them, Missouri turned into Misery.
Ditto for my sister-in-law who just returned from Salt Lake City. Not enough masked Mormons, I guess.
All this happened over the last week or so. It ain’t going away, is it?
I haven’t contracted Covid yet. Several members of my family and a majority of my good friends have suffered through it. My buddy Steve even died just before the shots came about.
I am fully vaccinated and boostered, but I haven’t worn a mask in a while and no longer avoid social gatherings. I’m hoping my shots protect me or that I’m one of those guys who has something in my makeup that keeps me from getting it.
I can handle flu-like symptoms for a few days but I worry about a more serious case and the possibility of long-range repercussions. I know I am putting a lot of faith in my vaccinations and boosters.
If I do get it, it’s on me. I understand that. But right now, I like my life back to normal. I suppose it’s a tightrope that a lot of us are walking.
“I guess the happiest place on earth is not immune,” my sister said upon her return from Disney — or Mouseland to me.
Yeah, she feels like someone has slipped her a “Mickey,” so to speak. Unfortunately for less fortunate people, Covid can roar like a lion inside them instead.
Stay safe. Or lucky.
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I picked up our Time magazine the other day and studied the front cover with interest. It was a collage of names of cities from across the country that had been victimized by some form of gun violence.
But what made me do a double take was that the very first name — up in the top left-hand corner — was South Bend, IN.
South Bend friggin’ Indiana. In bigger letters than Chicago down at the bottom … or Detroit … or Houston.
We lost four good men when a disgruntled employee opened fire inside Bertrand Products on our northwest side but that was 20 years ago. And, yes, we have had our share of mostly gang-related shootings in our neighborhoods.
Those are horrendous enough. But we haven’t had the kind of random shootings in schools and other public places where the shooters’ only motivation was pure evil.
It bothered me that South Bend had to lead off this list of loss and lunacy. It bothers me even more that we as a nation can’t do more to prevent these senseless killings. All we seem to do is howl at the moon.
There are probably a couple of hundred cities on the Time cover. Ours happens to be listed first. That seems unfortunate.
Yet nowhere on that cover is a place you want to be. God help us all.
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One of our neighbors is a rabbi, a wonderful woman who was walking by our home while I was playing loud music in the garage, courtesy of my Alexa.
She stopped for a moment and we chatted at the end of our driveway. I should have turned down the music (“Alexa, shut up!”) because it made our conversation a little difficult. And the song happened to be “Jesus Is Just Alright With Me” by the Doobie Brothers.
I really don’t know how Christian the Doobie Brothers are but they sure belt out that song. The rabbi didn’t seem — or pretended not — to notice. At the time, I didn’t think anything about it. I did later.
Hey, we all have our beliefs. I like to believe in others.
Contact Bill at [email protected]