Only we remain.  After a winter full of activity with three other couples volunteering at Fort Frederica, only Tom and I remain.  Self-isolating wasn’t so bad when we had other people to share it with, but now days go by without Tom and I seeing or talking to another person.  Don’t feel too sorry for us.  We are doing fine and are blessed in many ways.

There is room for five volunteer couples here at Fort Frederica.  Having four out of the five RV spots full is considered a full contingent of volunteers.  That is what we enjoyed January through the beginning of April.  We started self-isolating as a group in mid-March.  The park closed April 3.  Knowing the park would be closed a while, one couple left almost immediately for their home in Colorado.  Another left right after Easter, heading to Ohio.

The Verbas hung on with us through the first week of May, then they reluctantly departed for their home in North Carolina.  They would have stayed longer, but Bob is having knee replacement surgery now that hospitals are open for elective surgeries again.  He needed to do two weeks of isolation in North Carolina before he could start his pre-op testing.

Since they left, only we remain.  We are supposed to get two new couples but they keep putting off their arrival as long as the park is closed.  Tom and I have projects to keep us busy.  Until Saturday we also had Angela, an SCA intern who lives in the seasonal housing here.  We continued to walk on the beach with her and have supper and a game night once a week.

But Saturday Sydne, the other SCA intern, came back.  She had been working from home in Arkansas.  She is now self-isolating in the same house with Angela, so we have to wait two weeks until we do things with both of them.  Then I expect game nights, at least, will resume.

In the meantime, Tom and I are doing our best to stay busy.  We do see the other park staff occasionally but keep our distance from them.  Georgia has opened up and people are crowding into public places with no regard to social distancing or wearing masks.  So Tom and I avoid going out and especially going in.  This last week I had to go to the Post Office and it was the first time I went in a building outside the park compound in seven weeks.  This week we have to go IN the drugstore (I can’t buy my allergy medicine going through the drive-through).

We can’t stay isolated forever, but we are doing the best we can right now.  How about you?  What are coping mechanisms for self-isolating?  Do you feel safe going out?