Escape with Calvin and Hobbes
Cases of COVID-19 have gone up in my county by 37% since last week. The hospitals are filling up. Our office has been flooded with calls as there are many teens and young adults (and families) who haven’t been social distancing. Everyone wants to get tested. It’s almost impossible to get kids tested. All the local testing sites are for ages 16 or 18 and up. (And currently we aren’t testing in our office.) Though many kids are mild and do not need to get tested, the very sick we still send to the ER. What does it mean for our numbers? It means that that 37% is underestimated because most kids are not getting tested. Not getting tested can be okay especially if you know there was an exposure and you have a mild illness, then you should just assume you have COVID, do the right thing and actually isolate yourself for 10-14 days. Unfortunately not everyone is doing the right thing.
To say it’s been a bit stressful the last few months is an understatement. I don’t wonder why I haven’t been able to focus on reading or writing or the blog. Or that even before the pandemic that I’d forget to post on IG something that I posted on the blog. This blog is for me. (And you, of course.) A hobby that I enjoy. And what I remind myself every day is that it’s okay when I don’t get things done.
I’ve been busy reading all the articles (medical or not) about a new virus that we don’t know everything about yet. And recommendations have been changing so frequently.
Today—as well as back in March and April— I have to tell myself to stop reading the news. There’s only so much I can do.
What am I doing instead?
Distraction. Distraction while still keeping safe.
So I’ve pulled out something from the archives: my Calvin and Hobbes collection.
In high school, I would read the L.A. Times every day to read my favorite comic strips, Calvin and Hobbes, Baby Blues, Curious Avenue and more. I’d clip out my favorite ones. The Sunday paper would automatically be handed over to me by my dad so I could peruse the special colored funnies.
And I bought every single Calvin and Hobbes book. Yes, even the collections which were repeats of what I had, and appropriately tongue-in-cheek named by the brilliant Bill Watterson.
Was I sad when he retired from drawing Calvin and Hobbes?
Yes and no. He was done and he didn’t want to have a watered down version of Calvin and Hobbes. The deadlines and restrictions were stressful for an artist like him. And he was off, like Calvin, to explore to world.
I haven’t read these books in years. I think it’s high time to re-explore them with my girls. I remember the humor, the wit, and, most importantly, the IMAGINATION within these magical squares.
A perfect distraction for a day off.
