I am certainly not looking for sympathy during this pandemic-interrupted assault on life as we knew it.  Every person and every family has had their daily lives disrupted in some way(s), some much more than others…especially if one is a retail store or restaurant owner or employee, or parent of school age children.  However, I had to cancel a trip planned for this past July 4th weekend that, I think, is somewhat unique.

We have all had inconveniences to deal with in our daily lives.  The most visible of which is the understandable wearing of face masks to protect others from each of us. One could possibly be symptom-free yet carrying the Covid-19 virus that could infect others, especially those people who may be most vulnerable.  Of particular concern are indoor places such as the post office or the IGA, or indoor meetings and gatherings.

We are also having to experience the extreme disappointment in those who are still maskless in those indoor settings.  Some are thinking that it is their constitutional right to do so…or simply just not thinking at all.  And we are all continuing to experience the feeling of not knowing what the future holds for this year and the next…and thinking about plans that have been altered at the very least, or cancelled at worst.  I am confident we have all experienced each of those lingering thoughts of what might have been in a pandemic-free world.

Yet, we will overcome this challenge if we all become part of the solution by taking steps that the epidemiologists have urged that we follow….rather than continuing to be part of the problem.  I am afraid that too many people will have to learn the hard way.  That is the “caring-for-others” part of the angst that most of us are experiencing right now.

Speaking of plans cancelled, early on in March I decided that a trip that I was very much looking forward over this past 4th of July weekend, could not safely happen.  The plane flight to Minnesota and rental car acquisition that would take me to my home town 110 miles northwest of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, then returning to suburban Bloomington a day or two before the return flight to Maine. I felt right away that these plans were too risky as the early facts of the pandemic fight we were entering became known.

Two events that I wanted to be a part of, in-person, were set to happen on July 4th, then July 7th.  They combined for my planned trip back to my Minnesota homeland last week.  The first was the planned July 4th dedication of the recently completed and beautiful Veterans Park designed to “honor all local veterans for their service to our nation”.

I first became aware of this project when I was contacted over a year ago to verify my years of military service.  They were getting ready to inscribe the names, years of service, and military branch of honorably discharged veterans on a number of granite “monoliths” that would be the focal point of the park.  Turns out that there are at present, about 7,300 names on those large black granite panels going all the way back to the Civil War…with plans to add names annually as more Douglas County veterans complete their military service.

When I checked out the website (alexveteranspark.org) I was impressed.  Check it out yourself and you will see and learn much about this project that was initiated a few years ago by a group of local vets.  I learned that along with this dedication would be a large parade down Broadway of Alexandria (where I graduated from high school in 1964, and from which I entered the U.S. Army in 1970).

I soon learned that many classmates who would be honored as well, would be in attendance.  It just felt like an event that I wanted to be a part of.  On the website, I later found the names of my Dad (a WWII veteran), an uncle, and a significant cousin, friend and Vietnam Veteran (now deceased), as well as other relatives that I remembered going back to both WWII and WWI…all of which added to my compulsion to be there as well, in spite of the intervening miles and decades.

Enter the pandemic.  All of a sudden, my much anticipated trip was not to be. The dedication ceremony and parade were postponed as well.  Veteran’s Day 2020 and the 4th of July, 2021 are possible future dates.  Like most events now, the plans are yet to be determined based on the progress of the pandemic.

The cancellation was doubly disappointing as I had planned to also show up at a nursing home/assisted living facility in Bloomington, (just south of Minneapolis), on July 7th for a very significant cousin’s 80th birthday.  It was also my 74th birthday.  We have been calling each other on that date for years to share a Happy Birthday wish and more.

I noted that this cousin (Doug Backhaus) was very significant to me early in my life.  This is true, and he remains so to this day.  It may sound a bit strong, but he truly was my idol, and one who I tried to emulate, both in the areas of thoughtfulness, good humor, academic accomplishments….and especially athletics.  In the latter arena, I knew I could not be as good as him.  Few could.  But I could give it my best, which I did.

Doug now has some significant health and mobility problems.  This is a far cry from the day he was signed to a professional baseball contract, at the age of 18 (and I was 12), with the New York Yankees.  (true confession: I immediately became a Yankee fan for a few years during my impressionable youth)….and well before the U.S. Army planted me at Natick Laboratories in suburban Boston in 1970, whereby my allegiance to the Red Sox started and continues to this day.

Doug also was an all-state football player in high school, and if it were not for his professional athlete status with the Yankees, I am sure that he would have been a star player at Concordia College, where I later attended (of course) and also graduated from in 1968.

To compound my disappointment in not being able to show up (as a surprise) for his 80th birthday outside his quarantined facility, I learned from one of his sons in April that Doug had tested positive for Covid-19.  That was heart-wrenching news.  I began my weekly phone calls to him in his extra-quarantined floor for a few weeks.  The good news in all of this is that he tested negative for two weeks in a row, so he is now judged to be Covid-free.  However, weekly tests will continue as is the case for all of the other residents at the facility.

So, this was a disappointing week not just for me, but for many here in the Rangeley Region…as a much diminished July 3rd and 4th kick-off to the busy tourism season was experienced.  My wife and I are now looking forward to perhaps doing a road trip this fall to Colorado to visit our sons and their families.  This all depends on our national progress in terms of Covid-19 of course, and the recommendations set forth by our top epidemiologists.

If everyone gets on board in becoming an active part of the solution instead of the problem, I am cautiously optimistic that we can win this war with a very tenacious virus…but it WILL require everyone becoming a part of the solution.

We need to write, otherwise nobody will know who we are.

Garrison Keillor

Respect Science, Respect Nature,

Respect Each Other.  VOTE 2020

Per usual, your thoughts and comments are welcome.  Jot them down on a 3”x5” card and slip it inside (after disinfecting your hands) the log door of our mudroom on the rockbound west shore of Gull Pond….or better yet, take the safer cyber-route and send an email to allenwicken@yahoo.com

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