By DR. KAYLENE ARMSTRONG, assistant professor of mass communication
April 7, 2020
Anyone who knows Bob Armstrong will not be surprised to learn that the COVID-19 threat hasn’t phased him. In fact, he tells his wife, life has hardly changed at all — until this week.
Much of the last five years has been the same boring routine, a rut he thoroughly enjoys. He retired for the second time when he and his wife moved to Alva, and he set out on a quest to accomplish one goal: “Get up at the crack of noon every day.” Most days that is exactly what he does.
A night owl by nature, he is often still up into the wee hours of the morning, catching up on the latest news he devours from only alternative news sites (he hates the “lame” stream media), reading a book, writing his own sci-fi book or playing online games. Occasionally, his wife strolls in as she is beginning her day at 6 a.m. to ask if he has been up all night. The answer is always “yes.”
He deals daily with nagging back pain that he blames on old football injuries from high school and sky diving while in the Army earning his jump master wings. The extra 150 pounds of weight he’s put on since he remarried doesn’t help much either.
These days, at 77, Armstrong can no longer stand straight, so his 6-foot height seems to have shrunk quite a bit — he now looks straight across when he faces his 5-foot-6 wife. He uses a cane to steady himself as he shuffles slowly wherever he goes, ever mindful of the fact he may not be able to get himself up should he fall. He seldom goes far either, often not leaving home for weeks at a time. Since the middle of March, he has only gone out once and that was to deal with taxes.
He doesn’t feel cooped up like so many people do during this quarantine. He’s a homebody who loves solitude. He doesn’t need to interact with anyone to feel connected to the world.
While the rest of the world may be trying to deal with the boredom caused by the isolation, Armstrong is in his element and continues to entertain himself just as he has his entire life. Only children have to learn to do that, he explains.
He used to ride bikes every day – about 3,000 miles a year – when he was single and needed to fill his day before and after work as a chiropractor. Then he remarried, got happy, stopped riding bikes and immersed himself in the online world that today includes the video games he loves.
He reads a lot – mostly science fiction, mostly on Kindle. He works on one of the sci-fi novels he’s been writing for more than 20 years.
He scans online news most of the day. He complains about politicians and how they are handling the coronavirus situation. He calls the lockdowns “fascist,” and then drones on about how the country is going to hell.
Mostly, Armstrong just does whatever he wants, eats when he feels like it, and never says he’s bored.
But today, he can’t sleep; he can’t eat; he can’t enjoy his rut. A mild toothache that started a week ago has turned into a full blown painful, swollen infection, and the dentist is not available to help.
A sign on the door indicated the dentist’s office would re-open on Monday. Armstrong waited all weekend to call, but the office wasn’t open and no one answered the phone or returned voicemail on Monday.
So he made an appointment with the physician assistant that he sees for his high blood pressure, hoping she will order antibiotics to clear up the problem. In no time — fingers crossed — he’ll be back to his boring routine. He’s easier to live with that way.
(Bob Armstrong is the spouse of the author)