Day 17 - About Those Germs...
Sunday, March 29
I never used to be a germaphobe. One of my mentors, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia and a man with whom I spent two years, famously takes a drink out of the local creek or river wherever he travels. The man is a walking vaccination. “I don’t recommend anyone start doing that now,” he cautions with a shake of his head. I too have felt the same way, on the belief that the more germs I’m exposed to, the stronger my antibodies become.
Right now, I don’t feel that way anymore. This morning I went down to pick up the Sunday New York Times from outside the front door. I carefully held it by its plastic encasing, ripped that open to let the paper fall out on its own, dropped the plastic into the trash, and went to wash my hands thoroughly. I then sat down to read the paper and felt a twitch on my face. I went back to the bathroom, washed my hands again, touched the itch, sat back down and - gingerly and with great concern - picked up the paper that had been touched by who knows who with who knows what disease.
We had our second ‘family Zoom’. This was a but out of control but fun.
Then, for the weekend’s excitement, we drove over to Queen Ann to see Marion, from a distance. The cherry tree at her house was blooming and I took the usual photo from her house at the gorgeous view of Seattle.
