Story by Justine Marie
One month down.
One month of being away from you. One month of not hugging or kissing you. One month of air hugs through FaceTime. One month of kisses through glass. One month of hearing you say, ‘Mommy, I can’t wait to hug and kiss you again. How much longer will this be?’
One month of not having answers for you, and another ahead. One more month ahead of trying to put a smile on through tears and be strong for you. One more month ahead distancing myself from you because I’ve cared for Covid-19 patients being an emergency room nurse.
One more month ahead of uncertainty. One more month ahead of awaiting daily changes in protocols and direction from the incident command center. One more month ahead of finding myself praying again for the first time in too long. One more month ahead of dreading another phone call from employee health. One more month ahead of wondering if this will be the week we’ll run out of PPE completely. One more month ahead of masking up, and walking through the emergency room doors into the unknown.
This is COVID-19.
I know a lot of you are bored out of your mind and the kids are going stir crazy by now. I know you’re frustrated by the extension on closures and social distancing made today. But it’s necessary to help us get this over and done with as fast as possible and not further overwhelm our health care system.
Please cherish the extra downtime at home with your families. Please cherish getting to hold them tight and kiss them before life gets back to the crazy schedules. Please cherish this time… or those of us who can’t right now.
We will get through this. Together. We will come out on the other side so much stronger for it.
You can follow her journey on: Facebook
