Usually, it's bustling with activity. Busy Lincoln Avenue in Bellevue boasts restaurants, a brewery, pharmacy, doctors' offices, insurance and law offices, variety shops, and more. Sadly, we lost a once-thriving flower shop (of which my office sits above), a children's theater company, and Happy Baby Company, which let go of their brick and mortar space months ago (but you can still shop online here and I highly recommend it).
Today, there are fewer cars and next to no pedestrians. The ones passing by are often donning masks. It is a strange sight indeed.
While many of you are quarantined in your homes, I am here in my office watching less of the world pass by and feeling an isolation of my own. As Operations Manager of Dignity Home Care Professionals, I have to work. It is essential. Yes, I can do almost all of my work from home, but I often discover the need for a file or info I can't access there. So I come in to my office, sensing an incredible emptiness here. For the past several weeks, I'm the only one working here. I miss the other voices. The looks we exchange. The feel of our office dog crawling onto my lap. I am being vigilant about sanitizing, wearing gloves while retrieving and opening the mail, and washing, washing, washing my hands. At times, I've had to go to peoples' homes and be in the presence of our precious elderly clients. My fear, of course, is not that I'll catch something from them. No, my greatest fear is that I, or one of our team of caregivers, will carry the virus (you know the one I'm talking about) into them. It's the stuff nightmares are made of, and believe me, I've been losing sleep over it.
And I, am only one. Only one person managing a team on the front lines. I'm mostly cocooned in my office or my home while they, my team of heroes, ventures out to care for those who cannot care for themselves. At night, when I cannot sleep, I pray for them. And for the other managers trying to navigate this new world of home care amidst daily fear that the virus will reach their people. Once competitors, now comrades in a battle against an invisible enemy.
Yes, this is my view and I love it. But I long for the day when the hustle and bustle returns and the noise rises to my window and Petey, the office pup, comes running through the door and onto to my lap.
My favorite things . . . an office I love, a view that will be fluid again someday . . . soon.