We see you

Dear the nurse in the local hospital, the sweet kid bagging my groceries, and the woman delivering my Amazon packages:

I see you. I see how hard you are working despite the fears, anxiety, and insanity that you are looking at every day. As we move forward in this scary world that we are in, the biggest thing we have learned is that those essential workers are just that: ESSENTIAL.

When you get sick, you rely on doctors and nurses with training and skills to save your life. When you need food from the grocery store, you rely on those people who will ring you up and bag your groceries. When you need whatever ridiculous thing you order from Amazon, you rely on those warehouse workers and delivery drivers to get that item from them to your doorstep.

For those people, I SEE YOU. I see you as I’m sitting in my makeshift desk at home safe and sound from the world around me. I see you when I finish the last glass of wine we have in the house to soften the blow that my anxiety gives me when I remember that this is real. This is really happening. Our world is changing exponentially and it’s changing on the backs of those essential workers who keep us going. Those workers who keep us fed and keep us healthy and keep us with the basics that we need to move forward. These are the same people that fought so hard to raise minimum wage. These are the people we see every single day when we are doing normal everyday life. These are now the people we see with masks on, and a smile despite the fear I know is hidden behind their eyes. They are constantly asking themselves, “will I get sick? Will I take home this deathly virus to my children, to my husband, to my wife, to my elderly parents?”

One of my childhood friends is a nurse in Denver. On a weekly basis, I’m checking in on her to see how she’s fairing and she always responds with something like “it’s going.” which in her language means, I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got. She sent me a photo of the respirator she’s wearing to work and I think to myself, “she’s one of the lucky ones” because I KNOW that there are nurses and doctors who don’t have the protective gear they need and deserve in order to do their jobs. And in my own selfish way, I am so very glad she is one of the lucky ones. She’s got some sort of barrier between her and this horrible virus cutting our population down. But for those who aren’t the lucky ones, those who aren’t getting the PPE they need, for those who’ve lost family members, or for those who fought so hard to save others only to come down with this virus themselves, I am here for you. In spirit and in love and in prayer, I am here to surround you with the world’s biggest virtual hug.

I saw something on social media saying how our grandparents were asked to go to war for our country and all we are being asked to do is stay home on our couches with our streaming services and our baked goods that we’ve all made because baking is what you do when you’re stuck at home. All we are being asked to do is to sit on our butts at home and wait this out. For those of you who are getting up every day to face the world by performing an “essential job”, you are saving our world. You are saving lives. We see you and we thank you.