In public again

Well, briefly.

Today was Mr. Tucker's funeral - this was the one I had to order the plant for. The person filling in for the head of Bereavement (who was now herself the bereaved) called me and asked if I could help serve. I said yes.

I wore a mask. I kind of laughed it off to people as "Yeah, I' need to get used to wearing one of these for when I teach this fall" which wasn't even really a white lie, because that was part of why I wore it (kind of like breaking in hiking boots before you go on a long trail). But I was also slightly apprehensive as there were People In From Outside and of course you never know.

Observation one: When it's people you're familiar and friendly with, social distancing is REALLY easy to forget. Though I wasn't in close proximity to anyone for long, and I'd remember myself after a few seconds and take a step back.

Observation two: wearing a mask isn't so bad. Well, until you're into it for about two hours, and then you get hot and really conscious of your breathing, but it's still better than the risk of getting sick. I probably could have dispensed with it in the kitchen (most of us were masked, though, so maybe it was better to stay masked). In the service, though - they tried to space people out by taping off every other pew but there were maybe 75 people there and they just had to give up on that. I sat in the corner chapel with the other women from CWF, because we had to go down to put out the cold foods right at the end. There were a few late comers that came in and sat by us; one man wound up directly ahead of me but I was masked and he was facing the other way, so I hope everything is okay.

I admit the anxious part of my brain kept muttering "superspreader. superspreader." except we didn't sing (they used pre-recorded music, which seems a reasonable compromise) and no one breathed on me and it didn't feel like there was that much air circulation (and I was masked). The service was maybe 40 minutes long.

Maybe as many as 25% of the people had masks - and they even had boxes of them out for people who didn't have ones. I saw more people using hand sanitizer which makes me wonder if maybe the perception is "hand sanitizer protects me, a mask protects other people" which is an uncharitable interpretation, perhaps; it's also possible "hand sanitizer is a small thing but masks are uncomfortable" though I will say, having used hand sanitizer several times this afternoon in cases where there wasn't soap available, it does dry out my skin a lot and I'd almost rather wear the mask and just wait until I can get to a restroom with normal soap and wash my hands

I will say I almost teared up during the Scripture reading (Ecclesiastes 1, and I think that may have been Mr. Tucker's choice). Not because I was grieving him so much - he was a nice  man and all, but quiet and shy, and I didn't know him all that well, and also, he had been ill for SO long that this is one of those cases where you go "Well, he's free of it now" and don't feel quite as sad as you would for a 20-year-old killed in a car wreck. But because it was the first time I'd heard Scripture read IN PERSON since March and....that's something.

Also, interesting about the "time to build" and also "time to gather stones" - Mr. Tucker had done construction (though he had originally trained as a chemist, I remember that now) and I think he did some work with masonry, at least at his own house. Whatever you may believe about the level of inspiration behind Scripture, I think there are absolutely a lot of things that capture the human experience, and often every time I re-read or re-hear a passage, I see something new and different in it, or something that pertains to the situation at hand.

Then we went down and served food and YES I KNOW that's one way this thing gets spread but....what are you going to do, flush 4000 years or so of hospitality customs? I think it will be okay, maybe only about forty people stayed and I was able to stay apart from them and while I did grab a bit of cheese and one brownie, again - I think because I chewed and swallowed them and sent them down into the acid pit of my stomach, rather than inhaling them, I should be safe.

(It's really, really hard to know how much of the "virus avoidance" is stuff I already do and have always done, like washing hands before I eat and regularly at other times during the day, and trying not to rub my eyes or nose (hard with allergies), and not touching tons of things, and tending to be a bit of an arm's-length person with most people and also not going and hanging out in packed bars or clubs....if maybe I'm being paranoid and what I "normally" do is probably good enough. I will say these days I pretty rarely get colds or the like EXCEPT when travelling or if I have that student who comes to my office sick and is right next to me while I help them....)

Anyway, as people finished up and left, we boxed up the leftover food (some of which we had never even put out) to send home with the widow and her family, and I washed all the platters and put them away....and while I have a piece of skirt steak to make fajitas with, I think that will be a tomorrow-thing (the sell-by date for the meat is Wednesday, anyway) and I might just do the simple but less healthful "get a grilled chicken sandwich from out" thing as soon as I dress again after showering and washing my hair...