Rules, Rules, Rules

      My ten-year-old grandson Grant has long been fascinated with the story of the HMS Titanic, so much so that he'll even watch YouTube video recreations with cardboard, toothpick or Lego versions of the doomed ocean-liner. While watching one of these recently, he asked if it was true that women and children were the first to be put on lifeboats. I told him it was true.

     “Is that still the rule?” he asked.

     The question caught me by surprise but I said I assumed it was still true after which Grant protested that it was unfair, even though his younger brother Luke chimed in, “What do you have to worry about, Grant. You're still a child.”

     Well, no rule is hard and fast, something we've certainly learned over the course of this pandemic.

     Right now masks are generally not required in Michigan if you've been vaccinated. But that varies from business to business, and place to place. Some businesses still require them for everyone. I think that possibly includes restaurants. Wendy and I have dined out a couple times since becoming vaccinated. I did learn that restaurants can now offer buffet style meals though you have to put on gloves as you go through the serving line (hopefully the restaurant supplies them—one we visited did not). Social distancing is still required too, though I'm not sure whether that is three feet or six feet now.

     How do you keep track of all the rules and regulations? Even our governor here in Michigan got into hot water when she failed to socially distance with her party at a Lansing pub. But since she's the governor, the rule she violated was rescinded in short order.

     What we need is a date and time specific when we can just re-set everything so everybody can return to normal and forget about rules altogether. But nobody official is willing to make such a firm prognostication, least of all the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

     I'm thinking about a sleepover our grandboys had with us one Saturday night recently. As it was getting late, I wondered about bedtimes. Luke, who is only eight, will play video games into the wee hours of the morning if left to his own devices (pun intended). I asked him, “What time do you guys go to bed on the weekend?”

     “We go to bed at some point,” he responded.

     Spoken like a future Dr. Fauci.