By Ali Ramos
It’s the week of Thanksgiving. A week that is normally filled with family, friends, food, and of course, football. If you had absolutely no access to current events, you wouldn’t be able to tell that anything was different. You’d be blissfully unaware of what the year 2020 brought to the Panhandle. So, picture this:
You walk out to your porch after the big meal. Lethargy is starting to kick in as it’s one of the few times that you gorge yourself with no regrets. You stretch your arms out and take a seat on the bench that has belonged to your family for the last 50 years. You’re comforted. Relaxed. As you sit, you can see and hear the rustling of the crisp, fallen leaves as they dance down the sidewalk. The wind is cool, but the sun is still shining and casting a golden hue on the leftover pumpkins from Halloween. You can hear the background noise continuing from inside your home. Laughter, talking, cheering...coughing? You turn around to look in the window, but you’re sure that it’s just your mom’s allergies. Besides, it’s that time of year.
As you watch the neighbors walk out of their home, you notice them saying goodbye to a group of people with them. The group is wearing masks. “That’s strange,” you think. Maybe they have allergies too. A dark cloud forms above you, and you notice that it’s about to start raining. You head inside because you’d rather not get rained on, and there’s still dessert to be had.
The evening news is quietly airing amongst the sound of your family. “Today in the top 25 counties of the Texas Panhandle, there are over 500 new COVID-19 cases bringing the total number of active cases up to almost 7,000. Since March, 270 deaths have occurred. Mobile refrigeration trucks are being brought in to hold the bodies. This is not a drill. We are begging you to take this seriously. Please limit your family gatherings. Wear a mask. Protect your community.” Your vision starts to get fuzzy. You hear everyone in the room start gasping for breath. What’s happening? The sounds of your loved ones fade away. Your heart rate rises. The room goes dark. You wake up.
You stare at the ceiling fan as you’re lying in bed. You remember that you’re living through an actual pandemic. A plague. A disaster. You keep having this recurring dream of absolute normalcy marred by the slow saturation of debilitating heaviness and anxiety. You’re in a continuous state of fight or flight for your life. It’s hard to focus on daily activities. As you open social media, you see that your other friends are having the same difficult time. You see videos of local hospital staff discussing the overwhelming burnout that they face daily during this crisis. You see retail workers bearing the brunt of the public’s frustration and fear. You see people losing their jobs or having their business’s closed due to lack of revenue.
Then you remember that this will not be “the new normal.” In the future, you will sit back on the same porch. Watch the same beam of sun. Listen to the same sound of nature losing its leaves in preparation for the season of growth. You must focus on taking care of yourself, your family, and your community. You must stay strong and strive to remain resilient and authentic. Speak your truth. Take care of your fellow human. Love hard and love often. You will make it through this.
Ali Ramos is an Amarillo resident.