Covid Broke Me

I went food shopping yesterday at Market Basket.

I came out and was loading up my trunk when a car pulled in right next to me. I glanced over and saw the driver putting on his mask. That's all I noticed and I went back to loading up the trunk.

As I closed the trunk the family got out of the car. Dad, Mom and a very little girl. No older than two. Probably a little younger.

Tiny.

Dad put the mask on his little daughter. Made a game of it and got it done. Then they walked towards the store. Dad holding his daughter's left hand, Mom holding the right.

Broke my heart. Broke my fucking heart. To see that young, innocent child wearing a mask. To see that family walking towards what in reality is a war zone. To get food. To get fucking food.

You can make a case for Dad staying home with the kid or Mom staying home with the kid or leaving the kid with a babysitter.

I don't give a fuck about any of that.

What crushed me is the reality this family is dealing with. They have a little girl. They should be filled with joy. The pure, unadulterated, almost unattainable happiness that every human deserves. The kind of joy that good parents get to experience.

But their joy is tempered with dread. How afraid must they be about what is happening in this world.

I keep talking about how something different about this Covid-19 reality slaps me in the face almost every time I leave the house.

This one killed me. Absolutely floored me.

I will never get that image out of my mind.

A tiny, innocent child wearing a mask to protect her from an unimaginable evil.

It is not supposed to fucking be this way.