Older, in a Whole New World

Wow. That was fast.

It was only 10 days ago when Sharon and I boarded a plane in San Luis Obispo for a flight to Dallas, where we got on board another jet that whisked us to Disney World in Orlando.

The idea was to celebrate — if that’s the appropriate word when it comes to getting really, really old — my upcoming 70th birthday. We like Walt’s place a lot, and we couldn’t think of a better venue to commemorate — yes, maybe that’s the word — my reaching really older age.

When we arrived in Orlando that Tuesday night, it was typically warm and clear, but there were big-time clouds on the horizon — not at Disney World, but in the “rest of the world.”  Yes, the coronavirus had been making big news, and yes, we had considered canceling our trip. After all, we could catch the dreaded virus on one of our planes, or while we were cavorting in the bright sunlight at one of the Disney theme parks.

Good friends in our retirement enclave on California’s Central Coast had counseled us not to go. “How would you feel,” my buddy Paul had asked, “if Sharon got the virus while you were there?” Well, of course, the answer was, “terrible.” And presumably, Sharon would feel the same way if I got it while we were there.

But as Departure Day approached, we decided to ignore the fear factor and just get on the planes. After all, we had planned this “birthday trip” for years, and besides, we could always “get” the coronavirus even if we stayed hunkered down  in Our Town.

So there we were, in our lovely resort at wonderful Disney World, when things quickly and decisively turned ugly in that “other world” — you know, the one we know as The Real World. It seemed to start in that small part of the Real World known as sports. The National Basketball Association announced it was suspending its season because of the coronavirus. That amazing word hardly had time to penetrate our consciousness when the NCAA canceled its post-season men’s and women’s basketball tourneys. The National Hockey League suspended its season.

Then Major League Baseball — which, to that point, had still been playing its pre-season exhibition games in Florida and Arizona — canceled not only those games, but the start of its regular season, as well. Yes, we had tickets for what would have been a Yankees-Tigers game in Lakeland the day after my birthday, but that baby was thrown out with the rest of baseball’s bathwater.

And those earthquakes were nothing compared to what was about to happen. While we continued spending day after delightful day, visiting Disney’s theme parks on 80-degree, sunny afternoons — the coronavirus was spreading increasing havoc around the nation and the world. Things were happening so fast, it was almost impossible to keep up. Yes, we tried. We really did.

Each evening, we watched Channel 6’s local news in Orlando — then tuned to NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt. And each evening, what we saw was almost overwhelming. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held news briefings late each afternoon, and of course, they were covered live, as they should be. And each day, the governor would discuss the latest cases of coronavirus in his state, and the new measures being taken to try to slow its spread.

NBC Nightly gave us the grim news on a national and world scale. And in addition, we accessed, on seemingly an hour-by-hour basis, websites from the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.

And what we saw was that “back home” in California, the coronavirus was changing lives almost moment by moment. Gov. Gavin Newsom had to make terribly difficult choices much quicker than Gov. DeSantis did in Florida, because California had many more coronavirus cases than Florida.  Newsom kept announcing more and more restrictions on California residents and businesses — reduced hours of operation, smaller crowd sizes, even the voluntary isolation of millions of state senior citizens.  From our vantage point thousands of miles away, it was disconcerting, to say the least.

It all seemed incredible to us because, at Disney World, there was not a single confirmed case of the coronavirus. We thought that perhaps we’d be able to stay there the whole 11 days we had booked. But that hope died around 4:30 last Thursday afternoon. We were eating outdoors at a marvelous new barbecue spot at EPCOT when one of the numerous California news apps on my iPhone reported that Disneyland in Anaheim would shut down the next day.

Instantaneously, we knew that Disney World could not possibly remain open when its California cousin was closing. And just a half-hour after the Disneyland bombshell, we were sitting in the back of the outdoor amphitheater at EPCOT for the performance of the ’60’s rock band The Guess Who. The band leader came out and told our large crowd that the group was happy to be in what might be “the safest place in America” when it came to the coronavirus — and that he had word that The Guess Who was, at that moment on that Thursday afternoon, the only band in America that was performing live.

He may or may not have been right about the performing part, but everyone in the crowd thought he was correct about the “safest place.” Remember, no coronavirus cases had been found there. And those theme parks were all packed with visitors. We had seen a grand total of three people wearing masks at any of the parks. Disney had just installed numerous free-standing, blue soap-and-water dispensers, along with numerous white Purell dispensers, in all the parks — and we frequently used them during our strolls. So yes, we felt safe.

After the concert, we went back to our resort room, then went to the pool and hot tub. We had just returned to our room when word came that Disney World would shut down on Sunday night.

So we spent the next three days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — traveling from park to park. Yes, we tried to practice “social distancing,” but that’s difficult when you’re surrounded by thousands of people. We were really cognizant about anyone coughing or sneezing — though we did not see much of that, thank goodness.

Disney had announced that — though its parks were closing — its resorts would remain open “until further notice.” We hoped to stay until this coming Saturday morning because –frankly — what was there to return to in California? It was cold and rainy there, and Gov. Newsom kept putting new restrictions on, so why not remain in warm, sunny Florida?

And so we did. We celebrated/commemorated my birthday this past Monday by traveling to the nearby Disney Boardwalk resort and partaking of what was reputed to be the best ice cream around. It was, indeed good.

But by then, the Disney folks had said the resorts would also be closing — by Friday night, March 20. Combine that with increasingly dire pronouncements on the national level — and hints that perhaps airline travel would be restricted — and we decided we’d better make our way Back West. We arrived at our home this past Wednesday night at 11:30 after a long, long day and night of airline delays.

And, yes, as we had done on our flights to Orlando, we used sanitary wipes on our airline seats and tray tables. But unlike last week — when the airports were packed with people and the airlines were full — on this past Wednesday, both Orlando International and our San Luis Obispo Airport were virtually empty, and our flights were no more than a third full.

And so, here we are, on this Thursday night in March, back in our home — and back in a whole new world. Our governor has just issued a statewide stay-at-home order, starting this very evening. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases just keeps going up and up, around these parts, and around California, and around the nation. When we went grocery shopping today, our store was out — completely out — of paper products such as toilet paper and paper towels. Bottled water? The shelves were barren. Bread? No where to be seen.

And, of course, virtually every business around our downtown park is closed. That includes restaurants, wine-tasting rooms, art shops — you name it, you can’t go there.

Are we afraid? I think so, yes. Will there be panic? Well, there already is, when it comes to those grocery store items you can’t buy anymore. And some people, of course — not many that I’ve seen, but some — seem to dismiss all this as a plot of some kind, not to be taken seriously.

None of those reactions help. Not one of them.  Somehow, we all need to stay calm, even with the estimates that millions of us will get the coronavirus.  The vast majority who do get it will survive, but many — too many — will die. And the toll of this pandemic also will reach deeply into our economy and into the lives of those whose jobs will go away when their company or store closes.

We’re all going to feel this one. We are about to live through something most of us have never known — and, yes, it’s difficult to “stay calm” when there are so many questions about all this and so few answers. I believe  we can get through this, but I can’t pretend to know what our short-term future looks like, much less what happens “down the road.” We’ll all be finding out — together.

One thing I do know, on this Thursday night:  I’m glad — Sharon and I are both glad — that we rolled the dice and took that trip to Orlando. And we’d do it again, under similar circumstances.  You’re lucky if you reach the age of 70, so why not “go for it”?  And we’re lucky, even if we are  “sheltering in place” out here in California. I know we — all of us — have to do it — and we’ll take it on a day-by-day basis, while we wait for more news of what comes next.  It’s all we can do.