Marking Time II: A COVID Calendar(?)
May 20, 2020 News: "For the first time since 1931 the Triple Crown horse races will be run out of order..."

       Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with the origins of our current calendar, which is essentially based on the number of days it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun. But just in case, a brief refresher: while there were other calendars before his time, Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar in 45 BCE (hence, the "Julian" calendar). Eventually, in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII  gained support for additional reforms, which resulted in the calendar we use today ("Gregorian"), but it took over 300 years for most countries to adopt it (one highlight of this change resulted in April fools day😊). In China, a nation of frequent interest in our news cycle, they also track time by a twelve year zodiac cycle, with each year being represented by an animal and its reputed attributes (this being the year of the rat, NOT the year of the bat, as some would have you believe!).

       While keeping track of the day, week, and month, we have other markers of how we tend to measure time, such as how many days until our next vacation (or since our last!), how many shopping days until Christmas (well, we don't actually do this, the retailers and Hallmark do it for us), how long until school gets out (especially for parents this year), and how many years until retirement, to name only a few. But for the past few months, we have all been finding ourselves increasingly using COVID-19 directly or indirectly as a reference for how we are measuring time. For example, dates which will probably continue to be strongly embedded in our memories (dates that will no doubt live in 'infamy') now include when WHO first deemed COVID-19 a pandemic, the dates CDC made specific recommendations regarding 'social distancing', when your respective state declared a quarantine, the date that COVID diagnosed cases reached________, etc. Last week, a seven year-old, in the course of conversation, referenced: "Oh, that's when the virus was still in China...". And who among us hasn't at least once mentioned "When this is all over..." (but when is when?!). May 8th marked the 75th anniversary of VE day (end of WWII in Europe), a day when people were able to once again come outside and otherwise 'reopen' across many countries without fear. Another V day will undoubtedly be celebrated when a vaccine for this dreadful virus is discovered and successfully distributed.

So, how are you now marking time and wouldn't true 'physical distancing' call for horses without riders?