On Sunday, my bride took a lovely Easter lily to the neighbor across the street. They chatted for a while, maintaining a safe distance, and she came back home with an armload of gifts, including a handful of homemade masks.

Our neighbor, a nurse, is working long hours caring for the elderly, yet she was cooking a holiday dinner and planned to make up a to go plate and share it with a friend who lives alone.

Others, like physicians, nurses, EMTs, and other first responders are putting in yeoman service as are our exceptional community groups who have stepped up to lend a hand to neighbors and strangers. It would be wonderful if our nation and neighbors could treat one another this way when there is no major emergency.

In case you had not noticed, our world, our nation, our state, our county, and our town face a profound challenge. And I am afraid we are in for a long haul.

Unlike other national episodes of hard times, our young men and women are not marching off to war. This time, the enemy is an invisible plague called COVID-19. You cannot see it, smell it, or taste it. It lurks on doorknobs and stair rails just waiting to jump into our bodies. There is no vaccine, no curative medication.

Once you are infected, it takes over your body. If you are old, like me, and are governed by a chronic condition, like me, you could find yourself standing tall in front of St. Peter.

The public health experts tell us the only thing we can do is to limit contact with others to prevent its spread by staying home and religiously washing our hands. If you must go outside, they urge you to wear a mask.

Our national leaders, eying the sagging economy that has triggered soaring unemployment numbers, are talking about canceling the quarantine orders in about a month. Public health experts disagree, warning this could supercharge the rates of sickness and death. They warn we could face a second wave of infection.

American leaders at the helm of the most powerful nation on Earth are used to giving orders and having them obeyed. But, in this case, they are not setting the schedule. The virus is in charge. We can only react to its whims. This tiny virus has taken over our lives. Schools and stores are closed. There is no baseball.

Our community, which depends on summer tourists, is still putting a good face on everything, but they worry about the coming vacation season.

Some worry visitors, who live in metro communities, will show up and bring the virus with them. Others, who depend on the dollars that summer residents and tourists bring with them, are worried they will not come at all.

Meanwhile, we are staying home and working on the chores we have purposefully neglected. That book that has been gathering dust on the nightstand turned out to be very interesting.

A card table that usually hosts the weekly bridge game is now covered with thousands of tiny irregularly shaped pieces of cardboard.

We took advantage of a warm day to begin the garden cleanup chores.

Given our current limited social contact lifestyle, we have been alone for the last month. It would be like a second honeymoon, except for the fact that we didn’t have a first honeymoon. And that, dear friends, is a long story for another time.

And now for a commercial

In the last few months, I have told you of how the news business is suffering as internet news sites steal our stories. At the same time, our advertisers, God bless them all, have cut back on their print ads.

This national health/economic crisis has supercharged this condition, and many major metro papers and local tv stations are furloughing staffers. In some cases, the executives are taking pay cuts, too.

Local newspapers provide the only way we can keep in touch with neighbors and local governments.

Maine’s Sen. Angus King and other senators are pushing a proposal that would help local papers.

“The current public health crisis has made the already vital role of local news even more critical,” the senators wrote.

“Some of the most important guidance for families and businesses during this crisis has been highly localized. Local journalism has been providing communities answers to critical questions. During this unprecedented public health crisis, people need to have access to their trusted local news outlets for this reliable and sometimes life-saving information.”

If you are not already a subscriber to the Boothbay Register, Wiscasset Newspaper, or the PenBay Pilot, this would be a great time to sign up.

Be Safe. Be well.