New Pandemic

I don't ever recall a time in my life when I have seen so many "help wanted" or "now hiring" signs all over the place. I've also never seen such large signing bonuses being offered for jobs such as working a a grocery store or in a cafeteria. Last spring most businesses were forced to close. Now some are unable to maintain their usual hours because of a lack of employees. There is a McDonald's in our area that is now closed on Mondays for this reason. DelGrosso's amusement park (which was unable to open at all last year due to COVID) is usually open seven days a week in the summer, but they will be closed on Tuesdays this year due to a lack of employees. The swimming pool where we are members has also had to adjust their hours due a lack of lifeguards, and the list could go on and on. At two different restaurants over the last week (ex. at Dunkin' yesterday) there was a sign on their drive-thru explaining that we should expect a longer wait than usual due to a lack of employees, and both times the sign referred to the lack of  employees as the "new pandemic." Of course this isn't actually a direct result of COVID but rather how those in government chose to handle the COVID pandemic. Too many people would rather be paid by the government to stay at home than to get a job. I have to remind myself that worrying will not help in any way, but it's hard not to be concerned about skyrocketing inflation in the near future. We're trying to decide if we should trade in our 9 year old minivan sooner than planned in light of the prices possibly shooting up in the near future.  Hopefully we will never experience hyperinflation. 

I remember participating in many fire and tornado drills over the years when I was a student. They were not all drills. When we lived in Texas, there were several times we were in the hallway curled up on the floor because there actually was a tornado in the area. Once it actually damaged the school building, and there was an actual bomb threat when I was in high school (thankfully no bomb was actually found). When I was a principal, I had to call 911 once because there was an electrical fire in the computer lab. The staff and students *thought* it was a drill until the fire engines started showing up at the school. Since our kids are homeschooled, they have almost no experience when it comes to fire, tornado, bomb, or active shooter drills. This past Sunday we volunteered to participate in an emergency simulation. After the second service they provided bag lunches for those of us who volunteered to participate. Then after we ate they started a third worship service. About fifteen minutes into the simulated service, I had been asked to go out a specific door as if I was taking Oliver to the bathroom. They didn't tell me what kind of emergency I would encounter. I encountered a massive amount of white smoke. I ran back into the sanctuary and went straight to the worship pastor who was leading the singing at the moment. I told him that I had seen smoke and suspected there was a fire. He gave instructions as to how we were all to leave the building. From serving lunch to the debriefing the whole experience lasted almost two hours, which I wasn't anticipating when I signed us up, but I'm happy we were able to help the church tweak their emergency plans, and I think I handled the emergency appropriately even if Paul said he wished I had screamed my head off, ha ha!