One with a Broken Heart…

A pandemic can change everything...

The past month has been one of change, not just for me, but for my family as well as the rest of the country and the world. We are dealing with a pandemic of a virus that has not only sickened people, but has caused us to lose our jobs, as well as our freedom of going outside and doing the things that we have been doing beforehand, such as going to the library, shopping and browsing, and other things. I do not have any idea of how we would ever manage to whatever kind of new normal that we would experience even after this pandemic has been settled.
     I had been working on my food service job at Sodexo for ServiceSource at the Patterson Dining Facility at the Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware since September of 2018; I had been doing quite a good job at doing what I am told to do, such as cleaning the exit doors and the tables and chairs, not to mention facing the food products! Last year, which happened to be 2019, I had a pretty good full year of doing my job at my work, and this year I had been expecting more of the same at my job. But something else happened…
     Beginning on March 11^th, the World Health Organization had declared a pandemic due to the coronavirus, and with the hearing of those words, everything changed-The economy, our jobs, everything, from the closing of the schools to the cancellations of everything from sports to entertainment, and even the closures of things such as department stores and malls. And yes, even my own job has been affected. 

When I got dressed and ready one morning to go to work, I got the call from my supervisor telling me that I cannot go to work today, and that my work schedule for this week had been cancelled. The very next day, I got a phone call from ServiceSource saying that I had been furloughed due to the pandemic, from April to July 30^th; I do not know about any of you, but that news took me hard. I wanted to work hard at my job and to make my uncle happy and proud. But now, I have been released, as in furloughed from my job, at least until July 30^th. That news just made me cry, and so I did that-I had cried and cried. At the same time, I grieved this kind of loss, as well as the losses of the other things that I love to do, such as volunteer work at ReadAloud Delaware, writing stuff and taking out books at the library, going to the mall, etc.; These things that I love to do and now cannot, because of the orders by the governor of Delaware to stay home. All to fight a virus. I have never been so heartbroken by all of this in all of my life.
     All throughout the first weeks of the first full month of that order to stay home, I began felling a feeling of sadness, and thinking about all of the good times that I have had in Dover, Delaware, even long before this pandemic ever struck: My summer vacations in Wildwood, NJ & Rehoboth Beach, DE, my Goodreads Reading challenges, my writing goals, buying things that I became interested in and want to try, etc.; Now, those memories have turned out to be just faraway dreams of yesteryear. I am lost in the wilderness due to this pandemic.
     I began to wonder if this pandemic would slow down by June, and then I would be back at work then. However, this whole situation is very fluid, so nobody knows what is going to happen in the next month or so. One once said to expect the unexpected, so we do not have any choice but to expect whatever good news or bad news would come out of this pandemic. My uncle once told me that, in all things, nothing happens overnight, so with a pandemic, it does not ever get fixed overnight, nor very soon, but I am hoping that it would be over as soon as possible.

I sit in my room, looking out the very peeks of the window as the sun begins to peak its tiny streaks, shining on my bed. I draw a little bit from the blinds and just peak outside at the trees that are behind the houses on my block. But I have this hope, a hope that in time, this pandemic would finally be resolved by elected officials who know what they are doing.
     In the meantime, I try my best to keep myself busy and active with all sorts of activities such as artwork and writing; I guess being active calms the nerves for me a little bit, and if I would keep on doing so, them maybe I would not have to be so nervous about what would be coming for us. A pandemic is not something that lasts forever, you know…
     So, I guess there is nothing left for me to do but to keep myself active on a lot of things while waiting to find out if I could ever get word on when I would be getting back to work. I hope that it would be soon, if not a whole lot sooner.
                    ©2020 Jenn Webster