My dear friends and family, I am a pretty upbeat man and what I have to say is not easy. I see that a lot of us are in denial about this thing called Covid-19, wanting to believe that we can do gatherings, holidays and biz as usual. Despite over 240,000 of our fellow Americans having died already and new cases (today over 105,000 as of this writing) and deaths (over 1,000 today) rising fast, we continue to mess around with this thing and it is about to get very real. We must face the grief of losing those we’ve already lost and prepare for even more. What is coming is not only death, but also painful (and sometimes lasting) illness for many of our fellow humans and perhaps, even us. This will mean overwhelmed hospitals/clinics, burned out (and sick and dying) healthcare workers, and fear as the reality truly sets in for America.

Trust me, I would rather not have to look at this either, but if we don’t, we will pay a much deeper price as this fall and winter roll along and it will not be pretty. It is time to look inside of ourselves and get over not wanting to really see this for what it is: an extremely harrowing situation that has been mismanaged horribly by our country and one that is about to show us what it’s really capable of.

It does not matter that “therapeutics” have gotten better when you watch a friend or loved one in full-blown illness of any kind. We really need to look out for one another now and prepare ourselves for what is coming. My, oh my, how I’d love to look back on this post in a few months and find that what I was fearing at the time of writing it was unfounded, but I think we know in our hearts that will not be the case.

So please, stay home when you are able, wear that mask and practice physical distancing when you can’t, wash your hands, be grateful (and give raises) to the workers who are essential to keep everything going these next few months. Buy gift certificates from your favorite restaurant each time you think about eating out and have them for later when we can all get together again. People in the gov’t, if you’re listening, our citizens need help in order to financially, as well as medically, weather this storm. If we all get out of denial, pull together to watch out for one another and do all we can to see each other through, we will get to the other side of this, prayerfully with as many of us as we can.

If you are the praying type, I’d get on it hardcore right about now. If you aren’t, you may be by the time this reality all settles in. This is the time to wish all of our fellow humans the best, to care for our healthcare and essential workers by doing everything we can to prevent spread and by checking in with loved ones and neighbors regularly, doing what we can to keep them going. This is a time to love ourselves and to tell the others we love them too.

Thank you for caring enough to read what I know is not easy to think about. Once we grab ahold of it, though, I know we can rock this and come out the other end healthier people, having shared our collective grief together, while loving and supporting one another the whole way through. It’s time to be of service to all by doing what we can now. It’s all hands on deck my dear friends, and I know we can do this.

We love you all,

Garret