Look, this isn't a joke. This epicdemic has been real, and it's been devastating.

I couldn't help but feel the depth of our loss the other day as I was sitting in line for over half an hour at the drive thru.

On my 3rd trip around the parking garage looking for an open spot it occured to me that this disease was probably our punishment for being so reckless and so selfish.

I was so depressed by the thought that I was barely able to fall asleep on my flight wedged between two other people in cattle class. Not even the soothing, irregular thumping on the back of my seat by a jackass who couldn't decide if he wanted his 17" laptop in or out of the bag could help.

"We have paid a very high price to survive this", I realized later on that night as I drove 70 miles away from where I wanted to visit just to find a hotel with a vacancy.

But it wasn't until the next morning when I discovered most of the complimentary breakfast bar had been wiped out by 8am and the only things left were apple juice and a week old bran muffin that I vowed I would continue living life to its fullest in honor of all those we have lost in these troubling times.