Rose's Quarantine

Rose Cooper Shares Her Quarantine Experience

So really, nobody is ever alone!

Quarantine is a word used not only for people going on vacation or visiting family, but for people that are coming from a hospital or from rehabilitation quarters.

Quarantine is keeping us from spreading the Coronavirus germ, making sure that fourteen days is the time needed to qualify us to leave our rooms.

I recently came back home to quarantine in my apartment because I had visited my family in Chicago. Coming home, I was dropped off and greeted immediately by staff at the door, where they directed me to the elevator with all of my luggage, staying six feet behind.

I found a yellow sticker on my door, which was a letter explaining the rules while in quarantine.  When I closed the door, taking off my mask, I felt relief to have come home without incidents of any kind, feeling healthy, and really looking forward to the challenge of staying indoors for two weeks.

I must confess, I miss having my mail delivered to my door (after being left on the shelf) and find it strange leaving my bagged trash out for someone else to pick up.  Living in an apartment, we are given our meals.  During quarantine, and while the Coronavirus lasts, I miss joining friends in the dining room, and look forward to the day when we can enjoy meals together. Instead, a hande bag dinner arrives at my doorstep with food, including fruit, desert and bottled water.

The phone is a wonderful thing.  Relying on the phone as one choice of communication with the outside world can be magic with all of the technology available.  Zoom (or other names) enables me to see friends and family, sometimes all at the same time.  It also brings friends together, continuing to play their games on Zoom.

There are people that aren’t knowledgeable or ‘techie’, not keeping up with all of the progress made.  They rely on books, newspapers and magazines.  Thankfully, there are games and crossword puzzles in most of these to keep busy.

We all think of ways to keep busy.  Television gives folks time to relate to the news of the day.

There is also the much-needed communication by speaker in each room, with sound adjustments.  We are able to exercise by speaker, play bingo, if we choose, and get information in a form of entertainment.

My personal thoughts while writing this Journal is my outlet.  I love to write, to put my feelings on paper.  I feel blessed.

Being quarantined isn’t much different than accepting the fact that we are all literally living within our boundaries because of the Coronavirus.  Our life has completely changed, having to find our own way of being alone in an apartment.

-Rose Cooper is a resident of a Senior Living Community in West Bloomfield, Michigan.