Way back in 2013, Boulder County flooded. We had moved to Longmont only months before and now the police were knocking on our door ordering us to evacuate.
The gentle stream near our new home normally looks like this:
But in September of 2013, it looked like this:
However, out of the chaos, something amazing happened.
Community
During the storm, Mindy and I walked down to look at the river frequently. Every time we went down to look, we’d meet more people who were doing the same thing. We met more neighbors in the week of the flood than we had in the previous three months of living on our new street.
One day, there was a critical mass of neighbors gazing at the rushing waters. We started talking and one of them suggested that we all get together:
- Neighbor: Hey, what are y’all doing tonight?
- All of the other neighbors: Ummm, nothing.
- Neighbor: Come over to our place. Bring beer.
Out of a dark time, the humans bonded and it was good.
Now, the same thing is happening, but at a distance.
Mindy and I regularly take walks, usually multiple times per day. Pre-virus, we’d see a couple of other random humans in our neighborhood, but not many.
In the past week or so, we’ve seen more people out than ever before. Meeting new folks in the middle of a pandemic is the opposite of what I thought would happen. And it is good.
I’m an introverted human, or so I thought. I miss the usual gang.
When all of this is over, I’m going to host a really big party. Maybe we’ll even get a pinata shaped like the Coronavirus and beat the living crap out of it…
Walking
It’s not unusual for me to walk 20,000 steps in a day. I just don’t like to sit inside and I definitely don’t like to sit still.
In any case, I’ve been a walking fool lately. And when I walk, I like to look around:
I hope y’all are healthy and sane.
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As of this year, we’ve relocated to Jacksonville Beach, so hunkering down here, and the condo complex where we stay is therefore new to us. I’m sure the number of people we are seeing on our daily walks is WAAAAY higher than what it would be in normal times! And I’m also sure that people sitting on lawn chairs outside their door is also not typical 🙂
Nice photos!
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As for getting run over by cars, I find this situation a mixed bag. On one hand there aren’t many cars on the road and my bike rides are now amazing because of that. I often have the road to myself. But some asshats are pretending they’re in an “end of days” movie and flying down the road at double the speed limit. I’ve seen tons of douchbags just ignore red lights and go screaming around turns as if it’s a free for all.
In “normal” times about 100 Americans die every day in car crashes, and ironically this virus is saving some lives because we’ll have fewer car deaths. But there’s a small determined group of dick-faces out there who are trying to keep the deaths up.
Be careful out there folks!
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TRUTH!
I have definitely enjoyed making use of less crowded roads with my bike. And more time for walking, biking, getting projects done around the house, playing guitar and writing music (the latter something I haven’t done for 15 years!) and taking the time to dig into things as they come to me. Sure, I’m earning less money (though with the stimulus and unemployment, maybe not as less as I think) and some work stuff is extra stressful, but it’s best to enjoy the opportunities this time presents too. Good post.
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I’m a walker too. Averaging about 9.5 miles a day (or so my phone says. I’ve noticed the trails going to and from the Timberlane park here are lot more active. All the “touch points”, (benches, playground equipment, water fountains) have caution tape over them and do not use signs though.
We’re all virus free at the moment and very grateful but after the 3 week mark of isolation plus both working full time plus the kiddo, we’re starting to unravel a little.
We had to regroup today and make a new plan for some kind of a schedule because this taking it day to day business is no good if we’re in this for another month or six. 😬🤯 I keep saying we can do this but it’s going to take a lot more fortitude to keep doing it.
Glad y’all are still well.
It’s the same here — everyone’s out walking around and just dying to talk to someone. It’s quite ironic really. All we had to do was ban people from driving around and they start walking around town and becoming friendlier!
Maybe cars really are evil…. or jobs. Not clear which is the culprit. 😉
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California and Silicon Valley in particular has been quite compared to other larger cities. Guessing the early shutdown in San Francisco helped along with the fact that tech firms encouraged WFH a month prior to the official shutdown.
Parks and trails in my neighborhood have also been cordoned off. I guess our blogs will be a form of digital diaries which future generations would read to know how it was living in these unprecedented times.
Glad you and Mindy are fine
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