I am writing this column during quarantine because of Covid. Yes, I became a member of the way too large club of those who have caught the virus. Like some long ago comedian said, Groucho Marx I think, I would never want to join any club that would have me as a member. Well I confirmed that statement. Just as soon not be a member. 

So far so good though. I’m a superstitious guy so I don’t want to jinx myself, but my symptoms seem mild. For this I am grateful to be fully vaccinated. More on that later. 

The worst part of the experience to this point has been the comments from many well-intentioned but non-comforting friends and colleagues. I consider myself blessed to have many wonderful and supportive friends, and I truly appreciate their concern, as well as the challenge of trying to say something that is both helpful and honest. But, but, but, I have had a few too many emails, texts, and calls where these well intentioned folks have said things like “be careful, be smart, it’s deadly, it’s a killer, it changes over night, it will sneak up on you”. 

Yeah, I get the seriousness, I know the tragedy of this disease. But I have lived my life as an optimist, a believer that things will go the right way. That things will work out for the best. Even when I’ve been wrong, my optimism has remained intact. Hey, I knew the Sox would win a World Series in my lifetime.  Now we’ve won 4 ! 

My comments to those who have Covid have been more along the lines  of “no worries, you’ll be fine, can I help with anything,  let’s have a beer after you can get out.” Cite all the good stats, not the negative ones. 

So I am in quarantine, “self-isolating”. When this horrible plague first started taking charge of our lives, I heard that term a lot – “self-isolate”. If you got the Covid you would need to “self-isolate”. She is “self-isolating”. When I thought about it, I wondered what other kinds of isolation are there ?  The dictionary defines “isolate” as the act of being alone. “Self-isolate” thus seems a bit redundant. I would much prefer being able “to isolate” with my pals at our local watering hole or with my friends and colleagues at work, but it doesn’t work that way. I don’t think “group isolation” is what they have in mind. So it’s my cat Scarlett and me, hanging out. 

A cat, particularly one like Scarlett who is an extrovert, is not a bad companion to go through quarantine with. Scarlett is a tortoiseshell that I found outside my office with 4 very young kittens a few years ago. She was a child bride herself according to the vet, and she seems to recognize now that she has a pretty good life and seems grateful, at least as much as a cat can.

Scarlett’s appearance in my life corresponded with the heartbreak of my wife having to move into a care facility with early onset dementia. It was as if she was meant to help with the void in my life. She is still performing that function during this ordeal. 

Not being familiar with torties when I rescued her (or vice versa), I did what I always do – I bought a book about them, Ingrid King’s “Tortitude – The Big Book of Cats with Big Attitudes”. It is full of great quotes that seem fitting to consider when you are “self-isolating” with your cat. Here are a few that seem apropos. 

“You can’t look at a sleeping cat and be tense” (Jane Pauley).

“Time spent with cats is never wasted” (Colette).

“Cats are magical. The more you pet them, the longer you both live” (anonymous).

“What greater gift than the love of a cat ?” (Charles Dickens).

“I meant”, said Ipslore bitterly, “what is there in this world that truly makes life worthwhile?” Death thought about it. “Cats. Cats are nice”.  (Terry Pritchett, Sourcery).

“There are two means of refuge from the misery of life – music and cats”(Albert Schweitzer).

“There is something about the presence of a cat … that seems to take the bite out of being alone” (Louis J. Camuti).

So Scarlett has been a “purrfect” companion during isolation – music, the baseball playoffs and Scarlett on my lap have made it tolerable.

Another thing that has made this dreaded illness tolerable, and hopefully survivable, in my unsophisticated opinion, is the vaccine. I do not and will not look at vaccination as a political issue. I also  don’t want to insult people’s religious beliefs, but it seems to be simply cold, hard science to me. Certainly there are breakthrough cases like mine, no one promised 100% effectiveness. But the statistics overwhelmingly demonstrate that for those fully vaccinated, the chances of catching Covid are drastically reduced and those who do come down with it have significantly milder symptoms. Tellingly,  the cold, hard statistics also  show that the vast majority of current deaths and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated. As my friend Tony the Bookie likes to say, “take the dog and the points at home if getting 5 or more and the favorite has had a big game the week before”. Go with the percentages in other words. 

My father was the oldest of 9 children who grew up in a hollow on the Floyd/Montgomery County line. He had a brother, John, who died at age 2 from the Spanish flu. My dad often talked about his brother and would say how lucky we were to live in a world that has made the medical advances we have seen. I feel fortunate, even more now that I’m in the grip of the disease, that we have vaccines available to pull us through, to lessen the impact and the spread. Take advantage.

I am reminded of the old joke about the man who was trapped in his house during a terrible flood. A police car came by as the waters were rising in the man’s yard and offered to take him to safety. The man yelled back, “God will save me, I’m staying”. Later, as the flood waters encircled his house, first responders came by in a boat and asked him to jump in. Again, the man yelled, “God will save me, I’m staying”. Finally, when his house was almost completely submerged, the man climbed on his roof. A helicopter came by and lowered a rope ladder to take him on board. Again, the man yells at his rescuers, “God will save me, I’m staying”. 

The story ends with the man drowning and standing in front of the pearly gates. He is greeted by St. Peter. The man asks, why didn’t God save me?  St. Peter responds, “we sent a police car, we sent a boat, we sent a helicopter, what more did you want ?”

Help yourself, help others.