A Different World

March 30th has come and gone. March 30th was “delivery day,” the day I was to receive my custom devices. At this very moment, I should be at the Hanger Clinic, doing intensive training in my new ExoSyms.

But of course, it’s a different world now. A world shut down by an actual, literal pandemic. I realized in early March that I needed to postpone my trip to Washington State, a few days before my school closed, about a week before California was given a shelter-in-place order. I asked to be rescheduled for June, but (wisely) they responded with “postponed until further notice.”

And so I wait, “doing my part” by staying home. My world is safe and quiet and springtime-beautiful. I’m watching so much amazing music and dance, as Broadway and symphonies go quiet and reemerge online. Brian May plays a Beatles song. Joan Baez sings from her kitchen. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim wish each other happy birthday. Yo-Yo Ma plays us #SongsofComfort. Ballet dancers dance in their living rooms. 

And we run out of masks and ventilators and people die by the thousands, alone. No one can visit their loved ones in assisted living homes. Our healthcare workers function in a nightmare. Thousands of children who are safer at school than at home are stuck. 

The discordance staggers me.

I am sad that my trip to the redwoods is postponed. I am so sad that I won’t see the musical Ragtime anymore. And I am sad that I am writing this instead of learning how to use my ExoSyms. 

But it will happen, whether it’s this summer or next year. All I can do is be patient.