I& #39;d just finished this account of inherited trauma when a cutie handed me this picture & said, "I& #39;m not looking forward to the future! Things will happen & some of them will be sad! People will die!" https://twitter.com/JaneGRatcliffe/status/1384277366562717704">https://twitter.com/JaneGRatc...

They& #39;d had a class assignment about things they& #39;re looking forward to.
The pandemic has been THE big event in their lives.
14 months & counting shaped by people dying & the lengths we& #39;re going to in order to keep them safe.

One great-grandparent looks paler & frailer in every Zoom call.
Another is in palliative care, their worsening vision now full blindness because their eye doctor appointments were deemed "non-essential" until their facility was fully vaccinated.

Kid knows future = their deaths.

Hottie & I have gone to sometimes ridiculous lengths to shield our kids from any form of the traumas we endured as children.

But the pandemic was a trauma we never saw coming.

We joke about how people our age will be stockpiling TP when we& #39;re 90.

What will our children do?

Will they feel lingering fear in crowds?
Panic when someone coughs on them?
Struggle with physical closeness or in-person friendships?

I don& #39;t know.
Nobody knows.

In 30 years there will be 30 years of research on the pandemic& #39;s long-term physical & psychological effects.

But right now there& #39;s only today.
Tomorrow.
Clinical trials for the children& #39;s vaccine.

Now that& #39;s a future thing to look forward to.

/end