five years ago

You've seen it - this large spherical mass with protruding red spikes plastered across the television and the internet. It's an image that became all too familiar when the coronavirus, aka COVID-19, shut down the world at this time five years ago. Medical artists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created this popular coronavirus image.

(CDC’s digital representation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 by Getty images)

In my former home's back yard, I had three raised 8'x8' gardens and grew different varieties of cherry tomatoes, Costata Romanesco zucchini, herbs, garlic, and radishes. In 2019 a tomato fungus wiped out all but one of my cherry tomato plants. I had a few packs of sunflower and zinnia seeds so I got out my trusty little tiller, plowed the dirt, randomly threw the seeds over the bare space, and raked the dirt to cover them. In a few weeks, my garden was bursting with color. The birds, bees, and butterflies loved that spot. 

Yesterday this photo from my pollinator garden popped up on a Facebook memory. This zinnia was so colorful and cheerful and back in 2020 it was the screen saver on my computer. It made me happy. One day during the lockdown Todd came in the kitchen for dinner and glanced at the computer. "Is that a picture of the coronavirus?" I told him he needed to take a break from the TV.