NROP: 5 places to avoid right now.

Before you dive into this post, please take a minute of silence for those who had fallen fighting for our freedom.

Happy Memorial Day!

This year, our freedom has been taken from us in an unexpected way. When we toasted to the year 2020, we hoped for a better future (whatever that means). None of us expected a global pandemic to foil our plans. (If you had, please reach out to me because I could use a personal seer.) For weeks or even months, people around the world were told to stay at home unless absolutely necessary to go out. As you know from another post of mine, different countries have been dealing with the virus in different ways. Some people obeyed the rules and stayed at home for fear of getting fined, or arrested, while others treated the virus as just “another day at the office.”

Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer with pools and water parks opening for the first time for the season. At least that is how it normally is. Last week, I received a notice regarding our community pools. They are not opening until the day AFTER Memorial Day (with restrictions). It did not take long for me to figure out why they insisted on keeping the pool closed on Monday but would open it on Tuesday – people. Memorial Day is usually spent barbecuing and/or at water parks/ pools. CROWDS gather. And crowds are what we are trying to avoid as we begin to recover from COVID-19.

Today, I wanted to share with you the top five places I would recommend you avoid right now.

1. The road
   The increase in traffic has been gradual the past couple of weeks, but this weekend it looked as if no zombie apocalypse had ever happened virus had swept through. People were out and about. Yes, I was, too. For essential reasons, though – food. As restrictions ease up, I become more anxious. An increase in the number of cars on the road is proportional to the levels of my road rage. If you feel the need to go for a drive because you have not done so in a while, go for it. But do not go driving up and down the street because you have cabin fever. Cars are yet another cabin. (Is your mind blown?)
2. Parks
   Were all these people walking, running, biking BEFORE lockdown? This is a matter I am split about. Seeing people perform physical activities for health reasons brings me joy. (I am SO happy to see you move!) However, I get slightly annoyed that the places I used to enjoy in solitude are now overrun with other people. Where you go, I do not.
3. Bars
   This weekend was the first one in months when Italians could go out to a bar. Guess what happened. Crowds gathered to socialize, foregoing masks, or distancing rules. I can imagine prison gates opening and all the inmates rushing into the open world, grateful for their freedom. Do you really need to go out to a bar to have a drink? (Restock your supplies!) Do you really need to go out to a bar to meet your friends? (Invite them over.) Do you really need to go to a bar to find someone to hook up with? (Download Tinder.) Do you really need to go to a bar on the very first day you are allowed to? Governmental officials are threatening lockdown if people refuse to take it slow as things return to “normal.” Do we have to go from one extreme to the next?
4. Shopping malls
   It is as if people need to frequent certain places to know they are alive. When we hear that malls are re-opening, we think that we NEED to go there. It is a place we are now ALLOWED to go to, so we feel privileged. What many do not know is that even though the mall might be open, some of the stores inside might not. Since most places try and practice social distancing, chances are you will have to wait in a long line to go into a mall which might be mostly closed inside.
5. Water parks
   On Saturday, a water park in Texas opened its gates despite local orders. Hundreds flocked to the park. Even though people were asked to keep their distance from others, not many obeyed that rule. Have you ever seen a kid in a candy store? Or at a water park? It is impossible to have them not run around almost tripping other people up. Adults are to blame here, too, of course. As a kid, I loved water parks. As an adult, I still enjoy them but not as much. Last year (or was it two years ago?), I spent more time in line than on actual slides. As lockdown is being lifted, and summer is starting, people are flocking to water parks. If you have to wait in line with hundreds of people just to get in, can you imagine how long it will take you to wait in line for any slide? Is such an outing going to bring joy to your life? If so, please contact me because I could use a personal shopper and/or “line stander.”In Missouri, people gathered to socialize at the Ozark Lake Pool during the Memorial Day Weekend with no qualms. Did we not have an increase in COVID-19 cases in some places after Easter when people insisted on seeing their families they normally so hate?

I understand that there are people on both sides of the spectrum – some think that the coronavirus is the worst thing ever, while others think it is a joke.

I understand that those in the latter group cannot wait to have their rights “returned.”

However, is being in a loud, crowded place something you really need/want? Do you enjoy getting sneezed and coughed on? I know that I do not. THAT is why I prefer to enjoy myself away from crowds. THAT is how I am celebrating the Memorial Day Weekend.

FOX 17 Nashville reported:

“In the Tampa area along Florida’s Gulf Coast, the crowds were so big that authorities took the extraordinary step of closing parking lots because they were full.”

“In West Virginia, ATV riders jammed the vast, 700-mile (1,125-kilometer) Hatfield-McCoy network of all-terrain vehicle trails on the first weekend it was allowed to reopen since the outbreak took hold. “

Do you think it is high time for us to leave our homes and start living?

How are you spending this Memorial Day weekend?

What do you think of all the crowds mentioned above?

Stay golden,

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