getting shot down
My family and I were supposed to go on a beautiful trip to California last Tuesday, March 17th. We rented out a beach house in Venice that was just moments away from the ocean. For background: My family lives in Las Vegas, NV and I live in NYC. It’s been about year and a half since I’ve seen them and in this time, I now have a new nephew! So this trip was very much welcomed. By Sunday March 15th, as we all know, shit hit the fan. Around 8 P.M. my phone is going off but, I can’t answer as I’m at work. Finally after some free time, I’m getting messages from both my sister and brother in law, sounding frantic. Turns out California Gov. Newsom calls for home isolation, essentially shutting down everything from bars to gyms, restaurants to theaters. By 10pm, Gov. Cuomo essentially does the same. By Monday, I’m unemployed, so is my brother in law, and everything we had planned is absolutely cancelled.
But.. That was just the intro to the gossip.
Well in just 24 hours, out of nowhere, both my sister and brother in law become conspiracy theorists (we’re talking the kind using verbiage like “Deep State” and matching Apple icons to Illuminati type stuff), and gun nuts. My sister, on her instagram stories, shows she’s buying another gun. Perhaps if NYC had different gun laws, I would be viewing this differently but, even when I lived back in the west coast, I never agreed with the idea of guns. So to me, this feels a little extreme, especially with how abruptly it became a priority for them.
At first, I did my absolute best not to mention anything about the guns or how they look like nuts posting conspiracy theories. In my mind, civilization hasn’t collapsed, we’re just being told to stay the fuck inside! Well, my sister eventually asks me what I’m going to do, do I have food and water, do I have cash on hand? She’s genuinely concerned but, then she begins asking things like “How will you get out of NYC if all the bridges close?”, well, one thing leads to another and the subject of guns finally comes up and it all falls apart with us. She’s saying it’s to protect her family (sure, understandable), I’m saying it’s a little extreme to go from stocking up on toilet paper to mad max fury road on this whole situation. And well, the conversation didn’t end nicely. We haven’t said a word to each other since Tuesday. I don’t know if I’m upset or sad to know my family were like this but, it’s a bummer I won’t get to sed them anytime soon.. or maybe not? (No, i’m kidding!)