When I discovered that America is set to have one million COVID deaths, a number of thoughts crossed my mind. To put that into perspective, there are about 2.1 million people living in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.  Just imagine losing about half our area’s population.  That explains how many COVID deaths our nation has experienced.

But my thoughts go back to March of 2020.  I had been writing this local Fishers news blog for abut nine years.  It is a labor of love, but a totally volunteer activity.  It is a lot of work to write news for a local area as a one-man-band.  I decided it was time to retire for real and end the news blog, so that announcement was made at the end of March, 2020.

Then COVID hit.  The local media was scrambling to cover a big local story with less resources due to the economics of the news business.

So, no one was paying much attention to Fishers at that time.  So, I thought, I will continue the news blog a little longer because the local area needed coverage other news outlets were just unable to do.

In late October of 2020, I tested positive for COVID.  Let’s just say I was sick, very sick.  Energy levels were near zero.  I was very congested in my chest but could breath without much laboring.

I was in touch with my doctor nearly every day via e-mail, updating her on my condition.  It took nearly two weeks, but I did recover from my bout with COVID.  However, several months later, my doctor disclosed to me she was very close to sending me into the hospital due to my deteriorating condition at one point.

In early November of 2020 there were no effective treatments for COVID and it was months before COVID vaccinations were available.  Let’s just say very few COVID patients entering a hospital left that hospital alive.

My COVID bout included such a loss of energy I literally could not move easily.  I sat in a chair most of the day.  I am not one to sit for hours at a time, I am generally busy doing something.

So, during my time with COVID, I had time to do nothing but think.  I did a lot of thinking during those days.

That thought process ended with a decision to continue this news blog after all.  God had granted me extra time on this earth so I decided continuing this blog would be the right thing to do.

So, here I am, fortunate not to have been one of the one million American COVID casualties, feeling very fortunate to be alive and in reasonably good health.

That’s what goes through my mind as we honor the victims of COVID and their families.  There are many survivors such as myself and it is up to us to do what we can to make our local communities better places.

Thanks for reading.