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Jeff Dorris

Deliberations from Dorris

Jeff Dorris is the Editor of the Delta Dunklin Democrat

Editorial

Missing Pieces

Saturday, December 5, 2020

I haven’t had a column that centered around the COVID pandemic in awhile.

Mostly because I’m sick of hearing about it.

However, this week I ran across a list of the top things people miss due to the pandemic restrictions.

Hugs were on the list.

I relate to that.

I never quite know how to greet people these days.

A handshake, a fist bump, or elbow touching.

I never thought I’d have to make a decision like that.

Sports. People shared they missed sports.

Oddly, I find that I’m not missing sports.

It may have more to do with how political it has become, never the less, that’s not on my list.

Going to work.

This one helped me with my gratitude.

I am one of the fortunate that didn’t lose a job or have my hours cut, so this is not on my list.

At the top of the list was traveling.

From millennials to seniors people miss vacations.

I can understand that to an extent. I haven’t been anywhere over a couple of hundred miles this year.

None of those things really affected me to any degree.

The number one thing COVID took from me that I truly miss, that absolutely affects me, is friends I have lost.

I never knew a soul who had the swine flu. I never knew anyone that had the bird flu or SARS.

I lived in a metropolitan area and never personally knew anyone that had any of these past diseases, much less died from them.

I have, however, had family members and friends contract COVID-19.

Most have survived, but a few have passed.

I miss them.

I miss the conversations, the phone calls, the camaraderie.

Absent friends.

That’s what I miss.

A verse from a poem I recently read sums it up.

I’ll paraphrase it here.

To my absent friends:

Thank you for all the memories

that I hold so dear in my heart,

more friends, more memories will form

but the old ones they’ll never depart.

See you out there.

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