In Case it Needs to Be Said

I posted a blog yesterday about my worries, here on the Washington coast. Apparently it rubbed someone the wrong way, so let me just state this once:

I am not an expert, and I never claimed to be one.

I am a wife, a mom, a blogger, a gardener, a baker, and a sometimes fiber artist. I am not an epidemiologist. In fact, I don't even have a bachelor's degree. I can tell you how to get rid of blossom end rot on your tomatoes, and I can make cottage cheese from raw milk without a recipe. I am not a statistician or a doctor or a medical professional.

There are plenty of really good expert articles out there. Note: if your source is a blogger, like me, they are probably not experts either. "I did a lot of research" does not an expert make, because while researching is a very good thing, non-experts (like me) don't know how to interpret much of the information they're reading. And, at least right now, the real experts are way too busy helping and working and trying to save us all to write blogs.

It is up to us, the non-experts, to talk about life during these crazy times. In a hundred years, our grandchildren and great grandchildren will have the benefit of knowing exactly what happened, but they'll also want and need perspective and opinions, from people who lived through it. Maybe they'll read a posting like my last one and laugh, because the crisis turned out to be completely overblown. Wouldn't that be great?

In the meantime, I'm going to tell the approximately four people who read my blog what I see and hear, what I'm thinking about it, what I'm scared of, and what I have hope for. I have no plans to stop sharing my observations because someone doesn't like it. It's not about that person.

I cannot tell anyone's story but my own, and I'm not trying to. My blogs are my thoughts and my feelings. They help me to process and organize the chaos in my head, and to tell you the truth, I'm not really interested in debating. Debating is a thing where one of us wins and one of us loses. I'm interested in hearing your opinion, whether it differs from mine or not. Especially if it differs from mine. I'm not, however, interested in arguing about it.

Again, I am not an expert, and I do not claim to be. I'm just a mom, on day 8 of heavy duty social distancing. Keep the faith. Stay at home. Be well. And tell your story.