The "Oh! For The Good Old Times - Like 6 Months Ago!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Asked my wife if she wanted to head down to Chesapeake City, Maryland for lunch.  She gave me a quick response..."Where would we eat?"  Oh yeah, I forgot about the fact that we couldn't eat at our favorite restaurant since they only have take out.  "Well, how about we drive down to Chestertown for some shopping and eat down there."  Same answer for Chestertown as well as North East, Maryland and Rock Hall, Maryland.  All these locations are an easy and relaxing drive to shop and have lunch.  But...that's just not going to happen for two old-timers who fear the worst if we gather in a crowded store or eat in a busy restaurant.  Oh, for the good old times!  Not years ago...but, months ago.  They were the good old times!  In a recent publication known as Frontiers, I read that researchers found that nostalgia can help to combat feelings of loneliness.  Boy, do we need help right now to combat loneliness.  Sure, visits with our family are a big help, but we miss so many of the traditional things that we usually do during the summer months such as going to the Jersey Shore with our family for a week.  Our traditional location has been Ocean City, New Jersey but we have also headed to Stone Harbor a few years for vacation.  We also miss the two nights a week little league baseball games that featured our grandson on the team.  I have loved baseball since I was a small boy and played baseball throughout high school and then softball until I found it too hard to run out a hit while batting.  But, what we missed the most during the past few months has been our traditional trip to the island of St. Martin for three weeks during April into May.  We tried to combat boredom by reading, but I can only read so much before my eye lids become too heavy and...well you know.  My wife was unable to go to her hairdresser as well as have her nails done every few weeks.  She has become a pretty good nail stylist in the meantime, but the hair thing...well, she just doesn't trust me.  Sometimes the quiet times are welcome, but it does get rather boring.  For years my friend Mike and I did most of the in-house printing for the school district where we both taught and retired from, but we were confined to one morning a week and found we had to take over half the work to an outside source to get it done.  And, my part-time job working at a framing shop was stopped for almost two months since the owner, a former student of mine, wasn't allowed to open.  At times loneliness sets in, even with my wife by my side.  I find I make quite a few phone calls which I never did, in order to just talk to someone and see how they are holding up.  Carol and I haven't been able to visit with friends as much as usual, since many of our friends are too scared to accept visitors, even while wearing a mask.  I can't imagine the boredom we would have experienced had we been in a retirement community and not allowed to have visitors and were discouraged from traveling outside of the grounds of the community.  We were able to shop at our local grocery store, but we were encouraged to come at 7:00 AM when the store was open for those over 65 for an hour.  One thing I will certainly not miss is heading back to school to teach high school children.  Wearing a mask and staying a safe distance from the students would be tough in a course where you teach the visual arts.  I hope that today's teachers, as well as students, can have a safe and healthy start to school, but I'm sorry to say I doubt that is possible.  Retired teachers are being asked if they could substitute for those teachers who become ill.  How many do you think will volunteer for that job?  Sometime this will all be over!  It can't be soon enough for my wife and myself.  We are bored to death...but at least that is better than death itself.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.