I hate to say it but yes, I hate wearing a mask. Wearing glasses steams them up causing me to look at things in a distorted manner as my eyes water. I have begun feeling my way through the grocery store identifying products by shapes and colors because I can’t make out what they are. Three perfectly good pairs of earrings have gone missing taking my mask on and off. And worst of all you cannot understand what others are saying. I find myself constantly yelling through my mask not being sure if I am heard correctly or just sounding like a bully trying to make a point. Whatever you say, something gets very lost in the translation speaking through your mask. A prime example, I went to the doctor last week and he was looking at my x-rays. I thought he said to me, “You have any cancer questions” and of course I just about had a heart attack. But what he actually said was, “Can I answer any questions”. Not funny I know but I walked out feeling like I had dodged a bullet on that one! Even though I want to be the pillar of positivity, what a way we are living.

We all are cranky about it no matter how we feel. There are articles everywhere about how you should or should not wear your mask. Cover your nose, don’t cover your nose. Wear a specific kind if it is really hot. There are funny masks, sexy masks, serious statement masks, kids’ masks, medical masks, and rhinestone masks, scary masks, where does it all stop or even start? Although I must admit one of my particular favorites is “Will remove for wine”. Sounds like a plan to me.

And then there is the really big issue, you can’t see anyone smile any more. Of course all of us are trying to smile with our eyes but when you wear glasses even that get tricky. I was at Trader Joe’s the other day and the young woman checking me out was just lovely in appearance as well as her demeanor. In response to her helpfulness I was lifting my eye brows up and down and trying to widen my eyes so she could see how very pleased I was. She stared at me for a moment and then all of a sudden she grabbed my arm and said, “Oh my dear are you having a stroke?” I looked at her in horror and shook my head trying to figure out why she would even think that. “Well I am sorry to get upset”, she said letting go of my arm, “But your eyes were wild looking and your eyebrows were totally out of control.” So much for inventing a way to look positively delighted behind the mask!

We have been talking about this, evaluating this and listening to the pros and cons of “masking up” for the last three months. Everyone is grumbling and tired of it either way. So you know what I say with a really big sigh, this is so much bigger than you and me, lets’ just all of us dig in and decide to do it and hopefully kick Covid 19 in the butt.

The powers that be insist that wearing a mask will pretty much put an end to what we are going through. Is that not worth the trouble of masking up to hopefully getting on with our lives? I am more than willing to put on my mask when I go out if it helps in any way for us to get our country back on its feet, folks back to work, and stop all of us from living in fear on a day to day basis. Besides, as I stand in line waiting to check out and I see all the clerks and cashiers who have been wearing their masks all day long, who am I to complain about the hour I am in the store wearing mine?

The CDC said, “If all of us would put on a face covering for the next four to six weeks I think we could drive this epidemic to the ground in this country.” True or not true I don’t know and this is not a political commentary. My hope is that everyone will quit yelling at each other about it. What I personally believe, it is worth a try. What if we all band together across the country for just four weeks to see if the CDC is right, if it will make a difference, drop the numbers, stop the deaths. It is time for us, we the people to stand up, draw the line in the sand, to move forward, see what is next. We are in limbo and America is waiting.

Stay safe and well