Tiptoe Through the Emails

I should have been getting ready for my 50th high school reunion this weekend.  A trip to New York City awaited.  I imagined me walking the halls of my high school for the first time since June of 1970.

But the event was cancelled, joining a long list of cancelled events.

So, I sat on my couch and felt sorry for myself, as I deleted some long-overdue for deletion emails.

I scrolled through the months. Some I kept.  Many I deleted.

A flyover, scheduled for today, of two "old" warplanes, on this, the 76th anniversary of D-Day.  It will fly over a number of cities and towns in the Southern Tier of New York, including my doctor's office and the hospital where my brother in law spent three weeks recovering from COVID-19.

A rescheduling of an online event "to honor and respect the nation's grief".

My welcome to the New York City public library; I have a card now (thanks to the pandemic) for the first time in almost 50 years.

Emails with jokes, with videos, with attempts to cheer each other up and keep each other entertained during lockdown.

Scroll by scroll, I experienced the COVID-19 lockdown backwards.

I passed the confirmation of the registration for my high school reunion.

Then, reservation confirmation emails for motels, for the Amtrak Auto Train Service.  Receipts from merchants in various states, reminding me of vacations.  Emails from businesses no longer in business.

Newsletters from our local libraries (some finally opening back up for curbside only as of June 8).

I only scrolled through several months, but it was like passing through a couple of lifetimes.

In junior high school, each year, we sat through assembly and watched the movie "The Time Machine". I have no idea why my school did it but we did.  One of my favorite parts was when the time traveler was in his machine, looking at the mannequin in a dress shop and how its dress changed through the years.

Here it is, if you are interested.  My time machine, if you call it that, was backwards.

This is the 76th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of France by Allied Troops that helped to lead to the defeat of Nazism and fascism.

But now, 76 years later, we are back in battle.  The battle has several fronts:  COVID-19, racism, and a struggle to find ourselves and the heart of our country in our pandemic world.

History is being written before our eyes.

What it says is up to us.