Love in the Time of Coronavirus

By Elizabeth Prata

The title of this essay is a take-off of the title of Nobel winning novelist's book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Love in the Time of Cholera."

Since we have been mandated to shelter in place, socially distance ourselves, or otherwise stay away from people due to the global pandemic of the coronavirus, people have been forced to express their love in different ways. We can't gather, we can't hug, we can't be in groups larger than 10, of those groups we must stay 6 feel apart, all this makes it hard to express love the way we are used to. Though, I'm not sad to lose the hugs. People in the south sure are 'huggy.'

Instead, families gather under balcony or outside nursing home windows to sing happy birthday or wave to their loved ones inside they cannot visit. Others leave treats and gifts outside a front door, to let the person know they are thinking of them. Others find an Amazon gift sent through the mail with a note a loving way to send support to someone they care about. We send encouraging notes and postcards through the US mail.

A global pandemic spurred panic buying. Some items at the grocery store or Big Box store have been hard to find. Shelves of these items have been continually empty or the limited supply meant that they run out fast. Inexplicably, toilet paper was the first items that stores ran out of and it has remained that way since. This item is hard to find. This item is totally necessary. Potatoes, carrots, and wipes have also been hard to find but one can substitute for those. There really is no substitute for TP. By the way, paper towels and Kleenexes have also been hard to find. Again, no TP? No substitute!

I had a knock on the door yesterday and I opened it to see a dear friend standing there. My friend works at a Big Box store. With arms full, I was presented with the following:

Now, in calmer times, if someone showed up at the door with a gift of toilet paper, I'd likely be thinking that the gift was a backhanded compliment? Or a symbol of our relationship? Or a prank gift? But love in the time of coronavirus means sharing a scarce commodity given generously to a friend.

Thank you!