As the entire world grapples with covid-19, and people’s lives are at best completely up-ended, and at worst in imminent danger, I know the greatest impact I can make is to emulate the giant tortoise and withdraw into my shell.

Social distancing challenges all of us. Humans are innately drawn to spending time together — even when we are by ourselves. The joy of sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Paris is that of being surrounded by others enjoying their coffees or apéritifs and watching the world walk by our tables. Seeing Paris empty breaks my heart.

I am a cancer patient fighting Stage 4 colon cancer. I’m doing pretty well following a long, hard 2019 enduring heavy chemo. 2020 was supposed to be a year devoted to bucket-list trips . . . now all canceled. Was I upset? Well, yes. Who wouldn’t be? Last week, I was royally pissed off! This week, I’m feeling differently. I’m ready to do my part to help flatten the curve of this nasty disease.

Making like a Galápagos tortoise and withdrawing to my condo does not mean doing nothing. My college-age daughter is back home, and we are cooking and playing board games, and binge-watching things on Netflix. While she studies and deals with online classes, I read. In my forays out to get food, I am the great hunter-gatherer, working to be sure we are stocked and safe. My sister and I exchange texts with photos of empty shelves. When has finding fresh garlic and toilet paper ever been so exciting?

I have been an armchair traveler all of my life because I love learning about our world, and there were so many years that I had neither the time nor the money to indulge in actual travel. My home is now full of books, art, textiles, and objects I’ve dragged back from trips. When I lay my hand on the wooden hippo from Zambia, it transports me back to walking in Africa with my sister and daughter, and our guide Braston. It is both comforting and inspiring.

This time, more than any time I can remember, calls for a return to armchair travel. While the world battles the deadly coronavirus, travel for pleasure is ethically wrong. Armchair travel through a documentary, a great book, or reminiscence is the way to navigate the globe until the world recovers from this disease.

I am finding myself ready to write again. The heavy chemo last year knocked out my ability to focus on anything, and in the quiet at home, I am now finding a renewed desire to create. That is a contribution I can make to my world — to share travel stories and photos to help take readers’ minds off of the virus — even if it is only for a few minutes. I don’t know about you, but I can only handle so many dire coronavirus articles in one day.

I’ll be posting a variety of things: articles on trips I didn’t have the energy to write about in 2019, short posts inspired by some of my objects and art, photographs, and recipes.

Perhaps, as I’ve pulled my head into my shell, I have discovered it’s very much like a Harry Potter tent or the room of requirement. There is as much space, as many rooms, and as many things as I need there to be.

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