Dear Mark,
We love you. Please take the time off you need, we want you to rest if you can and get all those things done you need to. You saved our lives, and we are grateful.
Thanks to you, many of us started sheltering in place even before our governors told us to do so.
For those who do not know, on May 2, Mark wrote:
I just wanted to mention that, after being on this beat since January, I’m going to be away for a couple of weeks. Well … you know, not away, away. Not even away from my keyboard, because I’m hoping to use the time to finish a novel in progress. But away from Johns Hopkins, WorldOMeters, and CovidTracking. Away from fretting over the daily uselessness of the IHME model, and absolutely away from watching the daily indulgence at the White House.
So … see you soon, keep social distancing, and drop me a note if you want to chat about bees, bread, or the book. Take care.
I hope you forgive me for that one time I said in a comment (not in your diary) in about January that your diaries were extremely gloomy. Hopefully you didn’t even see that. I’m sorry I said it where you might read it. I probably started reading your pandemic diaries regularly very soon after that, and your diaries were gloomy, but we needed them. Dammit, talking about the deaths of neighbors and citizens too numerous to imagine is dreary, dismal, bleak, and heartbreaking. In a way though, your diaries were brilliant. You helped us plan to survive the pestilence, and that’s what we’re thanking you for. Typing through tears of gratitude.
In solidarity,
2thanks
And anyone who Recommends this diary
P.S. — Mark, I’m not trying to hook you into commenting in this diary today: I know you’re taking a break from Daily Kos. Please feel free to ignore this essay. I bet you’ll see it eventually.
Update Wednesday, May 13, almost 8 a.m. ET:
- I guess I hit the mark with this diary. :wink:
- Mark responded to this note of thanks from everyone yesterday:
- "Aww. Thanks. See everyone next week.
”I haven’t gotten all that much novel done, but I have laid a lot of new flooring and toted a fearsome number of concrete blocks one at a time down a steep slope. Still not worse than listening to a Trump press event."