Back in the day, when the idea of a viral pandemic taking over the fabric of our day to day lives was just a subject toyed with in post-apocalyptic novels, and well before the concept of “social distancing” became a phrase everyone would be familiar with, my mother was always overly vigilant when it came to fighting germs.

The daily dialog before mealtime went like this: “Wash your hands!” “But mom, I washed them.” “Go wash them again!” And she often gave unsolicited advice on many topics concerning hygiene such as: “Don’t ever share your comb or brush with anyone at school. Ever!”

And it didn’t stop there. “Don’t EVER sit on public toilet seats!” She had me doing Chair Pose, hovering my bottom over a toilet seat, well before I ever knew that was a yoga pose. And when I was too little to “hover”, she covered public toilet seats with toilet paper so as to have us avoid nasty germs.

When at a doctor’s office or any public place where we would be taking a seat, if a person got up and vacated a seat for us, she would catch hold of my arm and say in Sicilian, so as not to insult the person vacating the seat, “Don’t sit! Not yet! ‘Spetta ca’passa l’aria! (which translates to, ‘Wait and let the air pass!’)”

Germ-averting advice marked my childhood, forming deep brain-grooves of caution and awareness. I still hesitate and I always ‘spetta ca’passa l’aria before sitting on a public bus seat after it has just been vacated by a fellow passenger.

Lysol and Raid were common household items in my childhood home. Any time one of us got sick, mom went around the house spraying Lysol.  And because she had a horror of ants (because, you know, behind one ant is a LEGION of ants), she used Raid to send a message to the hidden ant colony that she meant serious business.  According to mom, the presence of ants also meant the house was filled with unswept, unacceptable hidden crumbs lurking in corners.

The Gallo household, under the directorship of my mother, did not do crumbs. There was a war she was fighting. Germs, bacteria, viruses, and ants were the enemy.

So, I looked on line to get a free image of ants. I discovered I, too, have a visceral reaction to ants!  Came across a photo of a person’s hand covered in ants and I could hardly bear to look at it! However, this infinity ant photo is acceptable and won’t ruin this blog post.

Public toilets were something to be avoided at all costs. My mom would go hours without drinking water so as to avoid having to use a public toilet.  Once, when I was home from college during the holidays, we went shopping at the mall and, unfortunately, we both had to use the mall’s public restroom/washroom/ toilet. Whatever it is you wish to call it, in my mother’s mind, the Ladies’ Room was a dreaded place, even if it appeared to look clean.  We entered the stalls which happened to be right next to each other. My stall had a broken hook so I had nowhere to hang my purse. Now every woman knows you can’t pull your undies down and hover over a toilet seat chair-style if you also have a purse to hang on to. So I placed my purse on the floor.  Suddenly, I heard a high pitched heeeee!  from the stall next door. (Breathe in and loudly say HE, drag out the ‘E’ sound, and you’ve mastered the sound!). Mom started yelling in rapid-fire Sicilian.  “What the hell are you doing? Are they teaching you to become stupid in college? Get that damned purse off the filthy floor. MariaMariaMaria!”  There was no three-second rule for my mother. After we exited the toilet stall, she washed my leather purse until it looked wrinkled and had turned a darker shade of brown.

In her bragging moments, she’d say, “My floors are so clean, you can eat off them.” …Not that we would. EVER!

Mom would wash, iron and starch all our clothes weekly. Every Sunday night, she’d gather all the clothes from the hampers (seven days worth of laundry for our household of seven people!). Plus she’d gather all the towels from the bathrooms and make separate piles: white towel pile, colored towel pile, underwear pile, bra pile, pajama pile, blue jean pile, etc.  She put all the whites a rimorddru (to soak) in heavily bleached water overnight.  All our underwear were white which made the pile-making and the a rimorddru in bleach an easier task.  On Monday morning, her washing day began while I was at school.   Laundry day was an all day affair. Monday’s laundry included the bedding from my seven-member family because on Monday morning, mom also stripped the beds and washed all the sheets weekly without fail. By the time I came home from school, all the beds were made, clean laundry ironed and folded, and the house smelled clean as bleach.

As a child, I thought everyone lived this way.

“We may be poor, but we are CLEAN.”

And clean we were.

One night, two weeks ago, I awoke at 2am in a panic. Oh, I woke up so worried about my parents and found myself really hoping they would be careful and not catch COVID-19. But then I remembered, with relief, that they are both deceased.  My parents will definitely be spared this contagion. If she were alive today, my mom would be armed to the teeth with jumbo-sized cans of Lysol and Raid, bottles of Purell, and dispensers of liquid soap.  COVID-19 would have been no match for my mother!

I shall continue to practice social distancing and stay home. When I go out for my daily walks, I’ll wear a mask to protect others from myself.  I’ll be very cautious. I won’t touch anything outside of my home. I’ll wash my hands often.  Even when I’m home, I’ll wash my hands often! And for God’s sake, I’ll do my best not to touch my face.  My mother would be proud of me.

And I won’t despair. At some point, the coronavirus will go inactive.  At some point, hopefully sooner than later, there will be a vaccine. At some point, we’ll be able to step back and fully grieve the lives lost from this contagion. At some point, the world economy will bounce back.  Not sure when these things will happen, but when they do, I think we will all look at the world differently. Most of us already have.

Whidbey Island Scene from early March: the sun still rises and sets and nature delights us with beauty.