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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

Christmas Eve 2019 was such fun! I’d traveled across center city Philadelphia and attended an aqua aerobics class @ the Logan Hotel on the Parkway. I met my friend Liz there and we traveled back through town together. I don’t ’t recall whether we ate lunch together as we often did on Tuesdays and Thursdays after class; probably not, as it was Christmas Eve & lots to accomplish. We parted @ city Hall and she took a subway south to get to her home. I walked back to check out a cloak for my daughter and purchase leggings from a Christmas Village vendor outside of city Hall. A young black woman tapped me in my shoulder & I turned to see her. We laughed: we were wearing the same furry coat. “You’re my sister from another mother,” I said. We laughed and parted. I rounded city hall and cut through the former John Wanamaker store & took this photo. The store was a fixture in Philadelphia. John Wanamaker started the department store. He was a devout Christian-I have a hymnal he wrote and a mug from its last days as Wanamakers. He installed a large organ and sometimes there are concerts. In the center of the first floor is a giant sculpture of a bronze eagle. “meet me @ the eagle” were directions for meeting up in the days before cellphones, days when you needed a fix point and some estimate of a timeto meet. The mayor, Ed Rendell had signed my shopping bag “ a day that will live in infamy” with the date as I was one of the last to exit it as Wanamakers. He had a special affection for Wanamakers -he and wife Midge got their first credit cards there when they were students @ Penn in the 60’s. It closed & became a Lord and Taylor, then a Macy’s. It was the store my mother would take us to on an annual visit to the city sometime close to Christmas. We’d make a pilgrimage into town from Bucks County, driving to Olney and riding on the subway, a real novelty for my brother and I. We’d see the store windows of Snellenbergs, Lits, Strawbridges and Gimbels department stores. We’d stuff nickels into the automat and retrieve a slice of lemon meringue pie from a little window of available pies. We’d meet my dad @ the eagle when he left work in town & visit the toy department and Santa @ Wanamakers, riding a little train around the ceiling of the 8 th floor before riding the subway and then driving home. This was an annual ritual. How is this different? The stores we visited are gone, Macy continues to operate Wanamakers building but there is no way that I was assembling indoors or meeting anyone. The Aqua classes resumed but were shut down. I never attempted to return. I knew @ some basic level that I would be crushed to resume and lose my freedom a gain. I’ve quarantined since 3/21/29 Would the black woman feel free to tap me on my shoulder this year after all the racial strife? I’m a 75 yo white-haired White woman The streets are full of unrest. When Congress finally hammered out a deal to provide some support for people Trump nixed it and played golf several times over the Christmas holiday. Christmas Eve was a joyous time to be out and about in the city, meeting and interacting with strangers, in and out of crowds and stores, casualty using public transportation. Most shopping was done online with packages delivered to your home. I don’t know if Macy’s will survive. Lord and Taylor is closing by year’s. end. Their store is on city avenue/@ the western suburban edge of the city. I’ve been in for 9 months. I’m trying to use the internet to shop. I sent my Philadelphia daughter’s gift to CA accidentally, Good Luck Macy’s -and me