DAZE WORK: 19 things COVID has robbed us of in 2020

The coronavirus — aka COVID-19, or The Covid as I’m hearing it called a lot more these days — has changed our lives, perhaps forever.

We can’t go out to eat without being impacted.

We can’t go to the store without it being a factor.

For crying out loud, we can’t send our kids to school without fearing for their well-being.

Wash your hands, they say. Mine are rough and chapped now. What did the old commercials call it, dishpan hands?

We all know that going into the bank wearing a mask and asking for money may be the norm now but certainly it evokes a little of the John Dillinger in us.

And now Indiana has mandated masking up in public (cue the Lone Ranger jokes).

It’s all incredibly frustrating, this dealing with the new normal or whatever that is.

We’re all in this together, they say, so join me in paying homage to what’s been missing.

Nineteen things we’ve missed these last five long months:

-- The sights and sounds of the fair parade, lemon shake-ups and most of all, elephant ears.

-- Fourth of July fireworks at the park, although plenty of Northwood neighborhood pyrotechnics have done their best to make up for them.

-- Putnam County Playhouse productions and the fun of watching the local dentist morph into Daddy Warbucks or seeing the lady down the street sing and dance her heart out.

-- The Monon Bell Game, although at least as a consolation prize, DePauw gets to keep the Bell another year.

-- Baseball, real baseball, not some 6 a.m. game from the Korean professional league.

-- Concerts, any concert. Heck, I’d even go see the Dixie Chicks — excuse me, The Chicks — right now.

-- The annual reunion show of those Greencastle Boys of Summer, the Average House Band. Hope you guys are gearing up for 2021.

-- First Fridays and the chance to mingle with folks downtown, enjoying the music, food and each other.

-- Chamber of Commerce “Business After Hours,” kibitzing with people we otherwise don’t see on a regular basis.

-- The Robe-Ann Park pool, always the perfect spot for a summertime feature photo on a slow news day.

-- Sitting at McDonald’s, sipping my first cup of coffee for the day, surveying the surroundings and carrying on multiple conversations with friends, customers and the McStaff until it’s time to hit the road with a refill.

-- Going to the courthouse to sit in on court cases and hear all the new excuses defendants come up with for why they violate their probation and end up back in jail.

-- Being able to run up and down the 32 stairs at the Banner Graphic building ... but that’s another story.

-- My Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible, but COVID didn’t get it, a big, fat limb off the tree in my backyard did during my quarantine.

-- Getting my change back at Kroger and Walmart.

-- Eckrich hotdogs. Really, you can’t get Eckrich hotdogs these days?

-- Hugs and kisses and long-lost intimacy. Zoom can’t touch it.

-- News stories without some kind of COVID hook.

-- A sense of security at home, work and school.

Maybe 2021 will be better, right? We can only hope ...