March 30, 2020 – Stay at home Order
This
weekend was interesting as well as historic in that our local county and local
towns put in place a Stay at home Order until April 17th, only to be
“Trumped” by President Trump until April 30th.
Simply
put my reaction was saying out loud, “Oh My!” filled with much emotion. I, along with the rest of the world have a
lot to ponder.
Now
this reminds me of an extraordinary moment when I heard the understated exclamation,
“Oh My!”
Travel back in time
with me . . .
Once,
when we were traveling from England to France [Dover to Calais] via the Hovercraft,
[no longer in service]. We first had to queue into one line from two lines, as
service was being reduced to only one crossing instead of two that morning due
to raging seas in the channel. From
shore, we couldn’t assess how “raging” those seas were, as this was our first
and only Hovercraft experience.
We left
the shores of Dover and I did manage to catch a glimpse of the caulk White Cliffs
just as the swirl of wind-powered mist splashed up on the windows making it
almost impossible to get a glimpse of anything.
We
were sandwiched in like sardines, not a seat vacant, which I was told by a
lovely English lady seated beside me was unusual for that time of year, it
being the first week of December.
Once
in the channel we caught glimpses of the white caps of the sea through water
saturated windows, and we started to pitch and gully and then the bottom seemed
to drop right out from under us.
“Oh
My!” the sophisticated English lady beside me murmured out loud in a startled
voice and turned to me and pressed a reassuring smile at me. She added with aplomb,
“We are in for a rough crossing this morning.”
My
mind said, talk about an understatement! But,
she sounds like she is in the know about these things. Of course, my mind
instantly went to the sinking of the Titanic and succumbing to freezing ocean
waves. We were passengers in a
Hovercraft which in actuality was a giant rubber raft being powered by wind and
the thought of simply being upturned by rogue waves or gale winds was vivid in
my mind.
A rough
crossing was putting it mildly. Soon,
the dropping out and the lurching and pitching became constant and on each
vicious drop or twist, the now silent occupants lost their modesty and decorum and gasped, “Oh my,” or “Bad one,” or grunts
and squeals – not of delight.
Up
until then in my travels I had never witnessed those “barf bags” utilized that
you see tucked into the back of every Airline seat. Luckily, the seat backs on
the Hovercraft each held those same ubiquitous bags. Within moments many were
being utilized by children and adults near me.
When
we landed in Calais, the Hovercraft eased onto the beach and landed, the
flexible bottom deflated, the wind engines coming to a stop. When we off-boarded I was surprised when I
stepped off the stairway onto wet sand.
“Oh,
they landed us on the beach. . .” I commented to my husband, as I paused being in
high heels, in fact my best pair of high heels.
An
English gent tipped his hat and said, “We are
on the tarmac; last night’s heavy seas simply washed ashore sand,” in a matter
of fact manner and he walked briskly forward.
Back to the present
This
“Oh My” moment in time due to Stay at
Home will prove to be challenging, interesting, and memorable as this
country proceeds to adjust, make-do, and get-on like we have had to do when
adversity has struck in the past.
It
is “stiff upper lip” time and you can borrow my “Oh My!” anytime that suits
you.
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