Clinton Township Newsletter

3 o c t o b e r 2 0 2 0 Carol Beder's OUR ADVERTISERS SUPPORT US. PLEASE HELP US BY SUPPORTING THEM. SHADES | MOTORIZED SHADES | BLINDS | DRAPES | PLANTATION SHUTTERS You Deserve Them! 908.236.2688 14 Lebanon Plaza n WindowExpressionsNJ.net – Julie Fl�nn In the last two decades, my children's generation has lived through and read about 9/11, the Great Recession, Superstorm Sandy, school shootings, several very divisive elections, racial tension, climate change, and now this pandemic. I'm sure I'm leaving out at least a dozen major events. Their generation totally understands that disaster can strike at any moment, and the world can be a scary place -- despite our intention to raise our children in a happy, safe bubble. When my husband and I moved to Clinton Township 22 years ago, our top reasons for choosing to live here were: low crime, easy access to major highways for our commutes, beautiful countrysides and, most importantly, excellent schools. We hit the jackpot with all of them – I think we live in the best place in the country. Of course, I'm biased. When asked about his impression of New Jersey on his first time here, one of my son's college friends (from Utah) said, "I didn't realize that New Jersey was so lush." We never thought of NJ that way but he is so right. At a time when a large part of the west is dealing with drought and forest fires, I am SO grateful for our "Garden State" and for the generous amount of rain we've gotten this spring and summer. Remember early in 2020 how we all thought the pandemic was a virus that was happening elsewhere? And then, on March 11 COVID-19, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Before we knew it, we found ourselves at the epicenter of what had become a pandemic, rather than an epidemic. We quickly got a lesson in vocabulary and history, as well as health practices. An EPIDEMIC is a disease that affects a large number of people within a community, population, or region. A PANDEMIC is an epidemic that's spread over multiple countries or continents. My kids were quick to let me know that the phrase Global Pandemic, which I frequently used in columns in the beginning of all of this, was redundant. And the Spanish Flu was no longer (for me) a brief, interesting storyline in the popular PBS series, Downton Abbey. In this very modern-sounding year, 2020, we are using the lessons of that pandemic as a playbook of sorts. Masks, quarantine, outdoor everything, isolation, washing hands frequently, sanitizing everything. I suddenly became interested in how my grandparents (and my husband's) survived that pandemic. I learned that my maternal grandmother did get sick with the Spanish Flu at age 15, and lost all of her hair as a result. She lived to tell the tale and her hair grew back in. The anxieties of my grandparents as well as my husband's make a lot more sense now. This October will be very different in many ways. Trick or Treating will be creatively executed, if at all. (How do you sanitize candy?) To that end, I've always found it a bit odd that we teach our children to never accept candy from strangers – except on Halloween when we take them door to door to actually ask/beg for it. Covid-19 might cause us to lose some of our beloved traditions that have always seemed normal. I refuse to believe, however, that this will be the end of handshakes and hugs. I apologize for continually writing about the pandemic -- it seems I can think of nothing else these days when writing to you all. I really look forward to moving on from it, and I know you all do as well! I hope you and your families have a happy and safe October.

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