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One Year Ago Today, I Was Convinced I’d Made a Terrible Mistake
What if someone became ill because of me?
The airplane engines roared to life. As my head pressed against the seatback during takeoff, I thought, “What have I done?”
Just as the flight attendant was instructing passengers to put small electronics in airplane mode, a news headline on my screen deflated my giddy vacation anticipation. The wording was sobering:
“WAIT — What?” Normally a rule follower, I ignored the flight attendant and quickly scanned the article.
For months, I had been looking forward to spending a few days in New Orleans with friends. We’d pre-paid for a vacation rental apartment, scheduled a cooking class where we would learn to make a spicy gumbo, and reserved a table for lunch at the famous Commander’s Palace. This was my first visit to the Big Easy, but exploring Bourbon Street, relaxing to some good live jazz music, and eating my fill of delicious food suddenly no longer seemed so exciting.
I’d like to claim I had been oblivious to COVID-19 before boarding the plane, but that’s not true. I knew of outbreaks across Europe, in Seattle and New York, and most recently on a cruise ship; but no one had yet…
