10/31/20

2020 has been a year for the books and we still have two months to go. There is no need to list our collective raw woes…we are all living them every day, some more so than others…

As the Holidays approach we can only hope for a turning point to help us move on….

I remember my mother saying “It is always darkest before things begin to turn “… I could just never tell where in fact the bottoms were found…

Sometimes there is a beacon way off in the dark which at first is just an imagined small spark.

I think I see one now…

And as always I turn to my guide, Angel riding a Cow.

” Hey you two, do you see that speck of white, that little bright star?”

( If you think they are with me only on long cross country rides, think again, they are my companions in a comfortable shared life).

Never much one for long talk , Flossie , the Cow, moos, but Angel whispers “Behold the Door at the Bottom of the Well”…

A point of light opens and before me lay visions to warm the soul…

At a loss for words, I paint them…

Flossie ,the erudite one, writes the verse for you…

There will not be another Blue Moon at Halloween until 2039…19 years from now…

Although my grand daughter Phoebe, who is three, has already declared me an “old man”… I will truly be an old man by then.

She will be graduating from college and her sister Violet will be just two years behind.

Memories of the Pandemic will be in the distant past and its unlikely either of them will know who was President last time a Halloween Blue Moon graced our Land. Time has a way of rolling on and putting perspective on our transient lives…

But maybe, just maybe, they will find these pictures again and save them to share with their own children in troubling times…

Dear Reader be safe now as always… but please take my advice…make the time to bask in a gift from Life. If you read this ‘fore the night is out, take a moment to bathe yourself in the Magic of the Tonight. With your loved ones, both here and in the Beyond, go outside …cover yourself in the light of that rare Magic Blue Moon. Savor the moment knowing such a glorious sight will not roll around again for a very long time…a time when God willing, you will be then transformed…older…wiser…and more beautiful than ever in the eyes of all those around…

Happy Halloween.

10/5/20

It has been some time since my last post. My life has been consumed by Covid 19 with a return to work as an MD triaging sick people who have never been but become for a short time my patients… deciding whether or not they are infected with the virus and then making recommendations depending of the severity of the situation.

A light morning is 20, a heavy one 50 to 60 souls in distress.

Due to my particular patient population positivity rates run from 15% to 45% … in six months I have never come close to the 5% rate my particular State considers necessary to re-open…but re-open it has where the virus is not so prevalent.

My patients are White , Black, Hispanic, Rich, Middle Class, Poor, Democratic, Republican, Independent, Straight, Gay, Educated, Uneducated, Young, Middle Aged, and Old…more than 3000 so far…

And they are all Afraid…

I myself have been in quarantine once after being exposed…and like them I knew fear…

I am writing this now since we are being told from Washington DC that this virus is not to be feared…less dangerous than the flu…an ironic statement considering the events of the past week.

Politics has a way of bending the truth…

I will tell you that this virus needs to be feared…I have talked with patients in the morning only to call back the next day to check on them to find that they have crashed and died during the night. Fellow MDs tell me similar stories…how patients turn on a dime…granted these patients are nowhere near in the majority but the severity is nothing to ignore…it is important to keep perspective…most patients are better in one to two weeks.

Fear aside this virus can be dealt with effectively by following the guidelines of social distancing, hand washing and the use of masks. Just as all of you I hope for a vaccine but I suspect it is still several months off.

In the meantime we can help each other and protect each other by continuing to use common sense. I am as responsible for myself as I am for the unknown person in my proximity of space and time.

More importantly we could come together as One if we could just recognize and acknowledge each other’s Fear and realize the Common Bond. We are all vulnerable, we are all at risk, and we all live in this same small world. Perhaps with a little humility and kindness we could recognize the value of each of our lives regardless of Creed, Political Beliefs, Skin Color, Language, Culture, Wealth or Educational Status.

Is it too much to ask that we all follow the Golden Rule of Life?

A Rule found in almost every Religion, Creed, and Human Value System since the beginning of time…

When my family was going through the early stages of the Pandemic in Italy this past Spring my cousin sent me this…

I look at it every day and hope that our Country soon finds itself on the path to recovery…

Be safe.