Saturdays with Seniors: Had I Known I’ be Staying at Home for Three Months…

Today’s blogger, Sharon Kramer.

I am pleased to feature Sharon Kramer as a guest blogger for “Saturdays with Seniors” today. Sharon is a graduate of the online Beth Finke Memoir Teacher MasterClass, and after I was put on furlough, she generously volunteered to start (and lead) the Wednesday “Me, Myself and I” memoir-writing class for her fellow writers on Zoom. One writer  suggested they all write 500 words on what they would have done if they’d had a week’s notice before the Illinois stay-at-home order was announced, and Sharon joined her students to write this thoughtful — and fun — piece of her own on that prompt.

Regrets, I Have a Few

by Sharon Kramer

What would I have done if I had a weeks’ notice before the Illinois Covid-19 Stay at Home order on March 21st?

If I didn’t know exactly what was coming, probably nothing. I would have continued my love affair with buying and returning shoes from Zappos, my habit of putting off what was too difficult for me to face, and my casual acceptance of a life of choices.

But if I knew I had a week before the loss of almost everything I found familiar? I would have been busy every day with gratitude and appreciation.

I would have bought lots of hand sanitizers and masks and left them at my neighbors’ doors.

I would have gone out to dinner every night with my family. Japanese one night. Italian the next. And, Turkish the next. No chicken with broccoli or tuna fish on toast for me. Not that those are bad meals — just tiring.

My love of riding buses would have taken me downtown, Lake Michigan on my left, the Gold Coast on my right, down Michigan Avenue, dreaming of the thousands of tulips that would soon appear.

Walking on the lake front every morning with my dog, I would wave and smile at the bikers and runners. Since the closing of the lakefront trails, I haven’t seen Lake Michigan in months and now I avoid runners by crossing the street.

Every homeless person I saw would receive a twenty-dollar bill. Now I turn my back on the homeless. rushing away, feeling sad about my fear of unknown people.

I would have flown to New York City to visit my friend Sara who is having a difficult time in the epicenter of this disease. I would have taught her a few Zoom and iPhone skills, which she refuses to learn and complains about not knowing. I would have encouraged her to visit her friends upstate and, perhaps, stay there for a few months.

Since my sister depends on the public library for her reading, I would bring her 100 books — all mysteries and stories of dysfunctional families — her favorites.

At Trader Joe’s, I would do a jig in front of the frozen chicken and invite the whole store to join me. Now I dread walking down those narrow isles filled with enemies.

Before it was impossible to do so, I would have had my dog groomed. And, maybe a manicure and pedicure for me.

I would have put up a billboard to thank all the hospital staff for what was coming. Another billboard would thank all the deliverers of mail, food and packages and those keeping our grocery stores open and trash collected.

Finally, I would have invited everyone in Chicago with a birthday in March, April, May or June to join me in Millennium Park for Pizza and beer.

A version of Sharon’s essay appears on the In This Together page on the Chicago History Museum web site. In This together is the museum’s community-based initiative to collect digital records that capture personal experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you live in Chicago or its surrounding metropolitan area, they invite you to share your story through content such as photographs, audio/visual recordings, personal essays and interviews.