That’s me behind the mask. The mask itself is a repurposed curtain that used to hand in a room in our former home in Amarillo. My wife has turned it into the uniform of the day.

It’s functional, even though my glasses fog up when I don the mask and am forced to breathe while my nose and mouth are covered.

I want to show this to you to launch a brief blog post that suggests these masks are going to become a part of our lives for the foreseeable future as we take measures to stave off the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is likely to begin lifting some of the restrictions imposed on Texans. The Princeton City Council, which governs the city where we live, has laid down restrictions on top of what Abbott has declared. Restaurants are closed to dine-in customers; churches aren’t having in-person services on Sunday; assorted services are closed, such as hair salons, nail parlors, coffee shops.

The masks have become a ubiquitous presence in Princeton. I see them on all grocery store employees, as mandated by their corporate bosses. Most customers are masked up; my wife and I wear our masks.

We’re all keeping our distance, even while we wear the masks.

I guess this is my way of saying that I actually am beginning to get used to donning the mask when I exit our truck.

It would do us all well to get used to it, too.