This week has been a very sad one for me.  Four people I know and like very much have decided to retire unexpectedly due to the Corona virus.  The first one was my dentist, two were my dental hygienists and the last one was my hairdresser.

It was really a surprise and the news caught me off guard.  While I would have preferred them staying on and working, they had every right to leave and say goodbye to their careers and to us their patients and customers.  Who would want to risk their health at this time of the pandemic?

Of them all, I shall miss my dear hairdresser, Carmelita, the most.  She's also from the Philippines and going to her salon was always a delight.  Oh the talks we had while she cut and colored my hair.  I met her way back in 1995 when I moved to the city from the suburbs.  We have been good friends since.  It was just this afternoon I found out that she decided to stop working after seeing a sign on her shop window that said:  My salon is now permanently closed.  I passed by her salon last week and it said that she was only gone for the duration of the pandemic.  I had to call her to confirm the news. 

These past four months at home have helped her make her decision.  She told me that while she will miss her customers who have become good friends of hers over the years, she is happy nonetheless gardening in her backyard and taking care of her newest grandchild who has turned a year old very recently.  I shall miss her so very much.  Like I told her over the phone, I wasn't going to say goodbye, Instead, I told her, "I shall see you later!"