Could you understand Lucy's ambivalence to leaving New York City? How did you process the early days of the pandemic?

At the start of the novel, Lucy doesn't understand William's concern about getting out of New York City. Could you understand Lucy's ambivalence? How did you process the early days of the pandemic?

Lucy didn't understand that the Pandemic was real. I think that's why she was reluctant to leave NYC. I believe most people didn't realize how serious it was. I certainly didn't until so many people were dying.
Honestly, I managed very well during the pandemic. I read over 90 books, walked my dog almost daily, and enjoyed not having somewhere I needed to be. I did miss being in church but I did watch the worship service online. I had been overcommitted as a volunteer and have tried not to get back to that since life seems to be getting back to normal.

Many people did not think the pandemic was going to be a problem. If a friend had wanted me to leave my home and go somewhere they thought was safer I also would wonder why! I did think it was frightening from the beginning and it did not take long for grocery shelves to empty and other stores, churches etc to close down. Actually my town did very well following the rules.

She was leaving not just NYC, but the person she was who lived in NYC. A loss of identity, with far-reaching ramifications, right down to hair, dress, and makeup.

I wouldn’t call it ambivalence but rather confusion; and that certainly resonates with me. I imagine that other than healthcare workers, none of us really grasped the severity of the situation. But for me, this book felt premature. I wasn’t ready to walk with Lucy through her experience of the lockdown or her processing of it. Wally Lamb published ‘The Hour I First Believed’ nine years after the Columbine shooting; that felt appropriate. Right? Good? I know there’s no timeline for normal recovery from trauma.

The first days, weeks even, of the pandemic felt like a twisted novelty to me. I thought I would probably return to my office in a couple of weeks. I had no idea what was happening and I'm sure Lucy may have felt the same...

At the beginning of the pandemic, I don’t think anyone was aware of what it was going to become. Lucy was happy in her situation and didn’t want to leave. I think those were the feelings of most people.

I saw this from another side of the lens. I live in a place where there are a lot of "snowbirds" from Canada and the eastern US. When the shut down orders were issued, I watched as friends hurried to make their plans to return home. My Canadian friends had five days to get across the border from the time the orders were issued. I found myself in helper mode, securing Clorox wipes, sanitizer, and helping them pack up quickly. I didn't think about what this was going to mean for me down the road at the time.

I saw my first news report of Coronavirus in the US sometime in early February I think. It felt far away from me. I didn't envision this becoming anything like the pandemic in 1917-we have better medical care, better technology, we're smarter now... It wasn't real yet, and people kept calling it the flu. Maybe Lucy felt this way too. Due to William's profession, he had information and experience that the rest of us didn't.

I was aware of the pandemic but not to the extent of the numbers it affected. I had no trouble following and believing in the guidelines. I had all the vaccinations including the one this month. I am retired and didn’t have to deal with remote working etc. I and all my friends could not believe the resistance people had dealing with reality. But then reality is scarcely believed by some.

During the early days of the pandemic, I thought we would be locked down for about two to three weeks. I guess, because we had not lived through anything like this in my life time, I did not understand the magnitude of it. Lucy probably thought the same. I watched a lot of news so that I could know what was going on, and early on so much of it was about New York. I found that I was glad that I have my own car and a garage to drive into, so that I could walk directly into my home. Many people, such as Lucy while in New York, did not have that option. William understood the situation.

I can understand Lucy's ambivalence about leaving her home and going to live in a different location. She then had to deal with different stores, finding places to walk, etc. and deal with the pandemic restrictions. In NYC she knew her surroundings and only had to deal with the pandemic restrictions, less stress. William understood that NYC was not the place to be during this time. My family lived in the suburbs of NYC and had a much different experience than I did living in a small town 200 miles away.

My daughter lived in New York during her college years. I could never understand her love for the city until I finally spent two weeks with her. Everything was in walking distance and there seemed to be a beat to the city. Lucy felt her independence wan a little because she would miss “feeling” the city. I can’t speak from experience but I’m sure NYC was different during the pandemic.

I think we were all in a state of disbelief when the pandemic started. Like Lucy, it was a gradual awakening to the fact that this was going to be our new reality, unless we were already alerted to it, as some of us were, like William. It is hard to leave one's home even in the best of circumstances. Home is where we feel secure. The unknown is scary. Are we willing to make that trip, which is not without its own risks, to gamble on a safer future? As I write this I realize this is not unlike any migrant who hopes to improve their circumstances by moving. I will also mention that we have a second home that we offered to our adult offspring when the pandemic hit. The couple that lived in NYC did not take us up on the offer though they appeared to be in the most danger. But it would have taken a couple of days to drive there, plus they had a dog to transport as well. (I remember when this first started and my husband suggested we drive a couple of hours away to go hiking... but where could I go to use the bathroom for that many hours... certainly not any public bathroom at that time!) So I understand their reluctance to make the long drive. The other couple, only 5 or 6 hours away by car, did take us up on the offer, fortunately. And we have all survived so far.

The first line of the book according to Lucy..."Like many others, I did not see it coming". It is so easy to understand the very many feelings associated with the pandemic. What was coming? What does it mean? What do I do? Where do I go? What about my family? So easy to understand her ambivalence at leaving NYC...I am sure so many others felt the same. People were plunged into a state of confusion, and for some panic. For Lucy, William took charge. People did leave the city (cities) in droves. The dense population in the city was a variable that for some could be changed.

I do not think anyone could really understand the beginning of the pandemic storm or what that would mean for each one of us. If you were in the medical
field, you probably had more knowledge than anyone else. I never imagined you would be on a waiting list for immunizations or how long it would take to get groceries delivered. I was overwhelmed trying to get wipes and hand sanitizers.
Lucy, like most, of us did not envision how our lives would change. She felt safe in New York and she could not understand William’s urgency to get out of the city.

The pandemic seemed so surreal, was it true or just another media hype for lack of anything else to report! Then the media reports the deaths and it became real. I realize Lucy didn't want to leave NYC, but as one of the most heavily populated cities in the U.S., I would have wanted to get out. Lucy's mind is stuck in her daily routine rather than a pandemic situation. She is part of the surreal!

I can understand Lucy's reluctance to leaving the city. She had lost her beloved husband that year and this was the home they shared. I know I felt that way and still do. This is where my husband is most alive to me. Secondly, Lucy's children were here, or near-by for visits and lunches in the city. And mostly I think Lucy felt like most of us that this would pass in a few weeks. When she realized her children would be moving it became easier for her to go and like the rest of us found a new way to exist. Our clubs, libraries and even church were available online. Our hobbies took on new interest, we read a lot of books, and communed with nature.

I really did understand. In the start of things, we knew it was bad, and I had found the story about the small Italian town that was completely decimated by it early on. But what we didn't know was 'how long will this go on"? We didn't know if life would be 'back to normal' in a month, a season, a year? Without knowing that it felt as if everything should be 'on hold' and so making a huge decision about the apartment would have felt impossible.

As others have said, the early days were punctuated by disbelief, doubt, naivete. We had never lived through anything like the COVID-19 pandemic, and had no way to predict what was going to happen. I related to Lucy's ambivalence about leaving NYC, her home, and her apartment. Her whole life was in NYC. I would not have left my home at the beginning of the pandemic! But I didn't have anyone like William in my life, urging me to do so, nor do I live in such a large, congested, urban setting. I also related to her belief that it would only be a couple of weeks until she returned. When we first gathered up our laptops & equipment to start working from home, none of us could have predicted how long it would last. In my case, I never did return to the office. After 20 months of working at home, I retired. And my colleagues never returned, either. The workplace was converted to permanent telework, which continues to this day. No one could have foreseen that result!! And I never would have predicted that my nearly 30-year legal career would culminate in yoga pants, sans makeup, conducting video meetings with my staff and making court appearances remotely!