I’m Still Standing: My 60th Birthday in the Midst of a Deadly Pandemic

Friends of Padre Steve’s World,

Today I celebrated my 60th birthday. Unlike past birthdays which we celebrated out with friends, tonight was different. You cannot go out to dinner. You can go to restaurants to pick up take out orders, but you cannot dine in. Likewise you cannot go to the movies, sporting events, or concerts.

So what we did was have take out from the place we have kind of found a home, it’s the West Beach Tavern on Cleveland Street in Virginia Beach. It’s basically a dive bar, but their food is great, beer selection pretty good, and the staff is wonderful. Likewise they have the best BBQ we have had since we lived in Texas, and my God, their cook, Mark, is amazing. He has one of the most amazing tasting Ruben sandwiches that I have ever had. The corned beef is marinated for at least twelve hours. Likewise, if it’s not on the menu he will find a way to make it, he is so creative, and all their food is made on premises from scratch.

The time together was nice, but Judy was tired. She has spent the last week and a half designing and making protective face masks, modeled after a standard surgical mask, but with a impermeable polypropylene layer between the cloth layers. She tried a couple of prototypes and has decided on one. She is supplying them to people, including nurses who are vulnerable to the disease. Likewise she spend last night making me a really cool little booklet of her own sweet yet somewhat twisted poetry and verse of different types. Since she had a couple of appointments this morning and didn’t get home until shortly before I did she made an early night of it. She is a hero to me. The masks are not relaxing for her to make, but she makes them because she cares.

Now I am downstairs watching the Netflix series Pandemic, with my wonderful Papillon girl Izzy at my side, and my little Papillon boy Pierre, across the room perched on the back of our couch as I nurse a glass of 12 year old, 8 years in Chardonnay cask, Glen Moray Speyside Single Malt Scotch.

While enjoying my birthday in a more somber fashion than usual wondering what is going to happen regarding the spread of the Coronavirus, how it will effect the world, the country, my family and friends, and even if it makes such an impact in the military that there will a Stop Loss that prevents military personnel from being discharged or retired. Since I am preparing to retire this could include me, and it is already making it hard for me to do the administrative, medical, and other tasks that I have to complete before I retire because most have to be done in person and many people are teleworking. Likewise, my VA disability claim submission that I need to do could well be delayed because you cannot do anything in person. What happens when the military doctors who need to conduct your retirement physical, as well as those you see for follow up care cannot see you, and what happens when the VA does not have the doctors and specialists needed to do their work to verify your disabilities and complete your claim? That is not just a question I am asking, but many others that I know.

That is about enough for the night but I have to post a reminder. As of today the United States is now the leader in the number of verified Coronavirus infections, far ahead of Italy and China, which just a few days ago were far ahead of us. The worldwide total of infections is almost 600,000 and and of those 436,534 are current, while there have been 27,365 deaths, with 133,363 recoveries, a 17% death rate. In the United States we now have 104,205 infections, of which 99,979 are current. Of the resolved cases 2,525 have removed, and 1,701 are dead, a death rate of 40%. These numbers around the world will certainly be far above that tomorrow. We are nowhere close to slowing the spread of the virus or even close to flattening the curve of infection.

So happy birthday Padre Steve, once more into the breach.

Peace,

Padre Steve+