So with the whole WuFlu thing going on the family and I have been making sure to stock up on some essential items like food, toilet paper and ammunition. We certainly haven’t been hoarding or, in my opinion, panicking. We have, however, started working on some things we had considered in the past but had never actually moved forward with until now, mostly canning, pickling and vacuum sealing foods. I will admit I think my wife and daughter went a little overboard buying sugar and flour (we now have two 5 gallon buckets full, each), but with as much as they bake and cook its not going to go to waste.
One thing that has irritated me throughout all of this, however, is my wife’s insistence that I am “panicking” because of my recent rifle purchase and my two or three trips to the local gun store for ammunition. She also voiced her opinion of me “being weird” because I decided to go talk to the neighbors on our street about the current situation and coming up with a plan for a neighborhood watch or even an emergency panic plan, IF NEEDED. Now, my family and I have lived on our street for six years. SIX! I can honestly say that I know the name of one of my immediate neighbors while the other neighbors name eludes me (I’m bad with names anyway), but I have no clue who the rest of the neighbors on my street are.
We live on a cul-de-sac with about sixteen homes on it, and tactically its in a good spot if we ended up in a SHTF situation. We are close to a major street and by a number of grocery stores and gasoline stations, which makes us a bit of a prime target for looters if thing went downhill and stores are raided. Once the stores are empty nearby homes would likely be the next target for desperate people. If this were to happen it would likely be more efficient and beneficial for all if we banded together as a group rather than trying to defend myself as an individual. My wife thought I was acting like a nut.
Also I decided to purchase a second rifle, a rifle for my wife, who likes target shooting anyway. The rifle I bought was inexpensive and ammo is plentiful because, apparently, nobody buys .40 caliber anymore, so unlike most other calibers, .40 has no restrictions on the number of boxes you can buy at once. Why by another rifle? Because if things go bad its better to have more than one rifle in the house and, since firearms are getting to be difficult to find, I figured buying one now, BEFORE we need it, would be smarter than wishing I had bought one later, WHEN we need it.
The point is, ladies, when your husband is doing all of this prepping don’t come down on him and tell him he is panicking or crazy or acting weird. For most of us all of this prepping is an enjoyable pastime, but one that already makes us feel awkward because of the stigma towards people who feel the need to prep. Modern society thinks its the Titanic and can’t fail, but recent events have shown that to be false security. It has taken a relatively MINOR virus to cripple the world and bring everything to a standstill. And yes, to date it is minor, with US deaths being under 4,000 as of this morning while yearly flu deaths have already reached 23,000 since January. The joke has been, “Well nobody is laughing at preppers now!”, and its a funny joke, but its true, no one IS laughing at preppers now. Regardless of, tell someone you have a stash of SPAM, water tablets and ammo and the jokes will be cracked.
A husband who wants to think ahead for the safety and protection of his family does so because he loves them. If you, as a wife, start to criticize or make fun of him you are not only being foolish and of no help, but you could literally be putting yourself and the rest of your family in a bad situation if your husbands planning would have prevented a situation or prevented a lack of supplies later.
Support your husband, even if he goes a little overboard. Extra supplies can always be used later, but lack of supplies could mean you go without when you need them most.
Oh no, that could have been written about me. My husband is a bit of a hypochonder and has hardly allowed me to leave home without him since late February, except for appointments with the doctor. And in late February life was still normal actually, tens of thousands gathered on the streets and in pubs to get drunk for Carnival, and everyone thought that China was far enough away. But my husband already “panicked” and gave me all sorts of instructions and he still does. Now he wants us to wear face masks and I think it’s ridiculous. I try not to act annoyed but sometimes his somber forecasts and hectic reactions when a stranger walks towards him on the street just wind me up. We’re in the happy position that we’re not part of the risk group, neither with our health nor financially. My heart goes out to all the owners of restaurants, dance studios, small shops etc who might be ruined until this crap is over. And to my cousin who is rightfully scared because she has asthma and also wanted to celebrate her wedding this May. I don’t see it coming.
This pandemic has to be the weirdest thing I have ever experienced. This Sunday I watched a church service on TV with no congregation there (which was also nice actually because the church’s choir sang beautifully and with no congregation singing along I could hear them better). The singers all stood minimum 2 metres away from each other, as instructed by our government. What a weird sight!? I can’t believe this is real. I wonder what we’ll all think about ourselves and our dealing with this situation one year from now, when hopefully a medicine or a vaccination against this virus was discovered. Will we laugh because it seems so exaggerated in hindsight? Will we ever look at toilet paper the same way again? Will children who are born afterwards believe us when some years from now we’ll tell them about 2020?
Like I said, it all seems silly until something happens, then you will be glad your husband was so “panicked”, though you will consider it more “prepared” by that point.
As for how the world will be after this? Who knows. The social distancing may have done little or it may have saved a lot from being sick, its one of those things we will never really know. I’ve been looking up seasonal flu stats and COVID is a mere drop in the bucket considering. In the year 2018-2019 the US had 35,000,000+ seasonal flu cases with around 34,000 deaths, but we didn’t stop the economy for that or shelter in place. And that all likely happened during flu season, so within three or four months? I think its a good idea to protect those at risk, but this whole thing to me seems like a bit of overkill.
Only time will tell what our children will end up hearing about this. If it all ended today with what has happened it might be considered a bit of a world wide fright, but if things get worse, which the could simply because of the economic fallout, it could become something much more sinister. All we can do ourselves is pray and prepare. Trust your husband! He only has your safety in mind, and as I said, leftover supplies can be used up. Making it through this whole ordeal with little more than a runny nose may be due to your husbands protection, but we will never really know, I guess.
Hope you all keep safe!
I don’t really know the difference between a bad case of regular flu and a bad case of Corona. It sounds to me as if the treatment of Corona requires more special equipment and thus also more staff to handle everything + it’s more contagious + hospitals are inexperienced with it. There were European countries which tried the strategy of herd immunity instead of isolation but they have all back paddled by now. We’ll see how Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden will be doing in a few weeks 🤞🤞🤞
My husband actually did keep us safe once. Five weeks ago two very good friends wanted to meet us but my husband decided that we’ll not see anybody who still uses public transport and shakes hands with everyone. I was quite disappointed. What happened next though was that these two friends were contacted by the local health office because someone they had met recently had Corona, and as a precaution they too were told to isolate themselves completely for fourteen days. So after all I thanked my husband for his decision to not got out with them. Our friends really could have had the disease too, and I was also pregnant at the time. Now our babygirl is here ❤ we’ll have lots to tell her about those crazy weeks when she was born. I was thinking about what you called “wife goggles” by the way: After I gave birth my husband actually told me repeatedly I never looked this beautiful 😆 as if! I look tired and I feel sore, the c-section left a scar, I wear baggy clothes etc etc. But my husband sees something else. He’s really sweet.
Congratulations! I am so happy for you! I will continue to pray that things go well for your little family! Keep safe, and please keep responding to posts whenever you feel like it. You are a great commenter and an interesting person!
The distance between being prepared versus paranoid is measured in the extent to which the event (in question) took place.
The fool judges before the event. The wise man does not judge after the event- he just keeps preparing.