How has the Chinese coronavirus affected life in Tulsa?     

A friend said that even when this is over, we may never want to shake hands again. If the virus dies down, it may reappear in the fall, just the like the flu.

For the first time in my life, I haven’t been to church in more than a month. Our church (First Baptist of Broken Arrow) puts the morning service on You Tube and we watch it on Sunday morning in our living room.

Our Sunday School class meets after the Sunday service online via Zoom, a computer program that lets you see and hear everyone on a conference call.

I am grateful for both of these but neither is as good as being with people in person. (I miss the choir).

Our only two grandchildren live 670 miles north of here in Mitchell, South Dakota. We long to visit them but it is virtually impossible with the “stay at home” orders. We talk on the phone a lot but it’s not the same. We are missing them in an important time in their lives.

I am starting to realize that sports takes up too big of a spot in my life. We missed March Madness (the NCAA Basketball Tournament), the OU spring game and even the NBA playoffs. The NBA may come back with an abbreviated schedule but who knows?

If this pandemic stretches into August, what will happen to college football? The athletes at TU, OSU and OU can’t get together and train and are not allowed to use on-campus gymnasiums.

You can’t just show up on campus in August and a week later play major college football game.

Our business has lost some revenue.

The Tulsa County Courthouse is mostly closed and we are not getting very many legal notices to publish. Yet our expenses continue.

Thank goodness for our subscribers and the circulation revenue they provide plus our loyal band of advertisers.

Fortunately, our kids are all working from home (all except one son, who works for a bank). They are getting a full paycheck and that’s a blessing.

We have friends who are not so fortunate.

A friend who is a sales manager has had a flurry of canceled accounts that might lead to some layoffs.

Another friend is also in sales and most of his success is at trade shows. All the shows are canceled and he may get the boot until the virus is over.

Another friend works for a car dealership and is able to work at home but is very, very bored.

One plus is that the casinos are closed. That is saving Oklahomans (and Texans) millions of dollars that they would have lost gambling.

Another benefit, if you care to look at this way, is that families are forced to spend more time together because the kids are out of school and the parents can’t go to work.

I have made a point of keeping better in touch with my extended family and I have had time to call and visit with some close friends.

My wife Susan has had more time and fewer distractions in working in our backyard garden. She has expanded the variety of edibles and with all the rain we have had, it should a good growing season.

Some restaurants have been closed and some have already gone out of business. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that more people are cooking at home and eating at home.

 That is not only more healthy but it is less expensive and it creates more opportunity for family time.

You would hope that moms would take kids in the kitchen and teach them how to make delicious and nutritious meals.

Entertainment has been shrunk to TV and board games. All the theaters are closed. Who doesn’t like to go to the movies? When I was single (almost 38 years ago), a date was dinner and a movie.

Summer vacations are up in the air. You would have to be a brave soul to book an ocean cruise. No one wants to fly to certain parts of the country (like New York, Washington or even Florida).

We like to go to Branson to Silver Dollar City and to see the shows but I fear this pandemic is going to force some of the shows to shut down for good.

America has been changed without its consent.

I hope that anyone who has not darkened the doors of a local church for years will stop by when they reopen in a search for meaning for all of this. After such a calamity, America historically has had a return to faith in Jesus Christ. That would certainly be a great result from the coronavirus pandemic.

And that’s my prayer.