|| 27 December 2020

Be Chic, Stay Healthy

On Thursday I sat down at the computer and began writing a Christmas Eve Nouvelles. An interrupting phone call took me away from the computer. I never got back. Christmas Day I never managed to even start a Nouvelles. (But I had a lovely Christmas Day and I hope you did also.) Yesterday, Boxing Day, I did write the first two sentences of a Nouvelles. Here it is 27 December. Too late for a Christmas holiday message. Now we must look to the new year. And to staying chic and staying healthy.

As this year ends, the focus more than ever is on health as the virus continues to surge and the vaccinations begin. Our hospitals are overloaded with Covid patients and this makes it difficult for those with non-virus health problems.

Christmas morning one of my sisters-in-laws had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Diagnosed with a bad infection and her heart failing to pump sufficient blood to maintain proper function, she is on a bed in a corner of the Emergency Room and fourth in line for a place in the Intensive Care Unit. This unit currently houses the surge in Covid patients. (At least sister-in-law is not on a bed in the Gift Shop as I have read some hospitals are having to convert to intensive care units because of the overflow of seriously ill patients.)

In the meantime, a step-cousin was rushed by ambulance here to a hospital in my North Texas city, after his Covid worsened. First he needed oxygen. But yesterday his lungs stopped doing their job and now he is on a ventilator. His condition does not look promising.

This man, in his early 70s and a pastor of a large congregation, had, up until early in the week, been able to avoid masks and social distancing without harm. Then he contracted Covid (most likely) from his two sons who were contagious and not yet diagnosed. Sons have moderate cases. But their father is critical.

Two lessons here. If you have been masking, hand washing, and social distancing, this is not the time to slack. Continue. And if you have not been taking virus precautions, you might want to start before you find yourself in an Intensive Care Unit on a ventilator.

All of you are very special to me. I do not want to lose any of you. There are some really chic masks available. Find a matching or harmonizing scarf to drape around your neck. You can be safe and chic at the same time.

Onward toward 2021.