I’m so drained.

Of course, I’m not alone.

My family is safe. My extended family is safe. My wife and I can work from home and have been doing as best as possible. It has not been easy, nor has it been ideal.

But we are getting through this.

Feeling fortunate gives way to feelings of uncertainty and fear.

None of this is ending soon1.

When schools closed or switched to Google Classroom, I knew the school year was done. When professional sports “postponed” their seasons, I knew the seasons were done. Same with college sports, concert tours, movies, the list goes on and on. These things are over and done with, and they aren’t coming back in April, May, or June. They just aren’t.

As soon as Major League Baseball starts up and a player tests positive for the virus, it will be over. The same will happen with Fall sports starting up. As soon as a player or coach tests positive, the season will be done. Movies pushed out further into the year hope something changes, but chances are they will be postponed indefinitely.

We aren’t going back to the way things were after six, eight, or even twelve weeks.

We aren’t going back to a semblance of the normal way things used to be until at last 2021, and for damn sure not until there’s a vaccine, which is, maybe, coming in early 2021.

Sure, no one really knows what happens next, but let’s be real. The epidemic is not slowing down. Every graph on the growth has it moving up. It isn’t changing. We are still climbing, and the trajectory is terrible.

So, how long is this going to go? A long time. Months. If you think academic institutions will start up in September, I think that’s hopeful but not realistic. Of course, some real effort by governors and business leaders may lead to more testing and quarantining, and everything will get under some control. Perhaps we can flatten that trajectory. I’m not holding my breath.

The best-case scenario is that nothing changes until there’s a vaccine. Everything else feels like magical thinking, and I’m tired of magical thinking and wishing it all away.

What will it be like in November when there’s an election of global consequences? Think there’s going to be a Federal push for mail-in voting? It will never happen. I’m not hopeful an honest election is even going to happen.

So, here we are, stuck inside with the economy tanking and people continually risking their lives to save everyone from this pandemic. No one can plan for the future.

It’s all just one day at a time.