Final Project - James Gordon

Pandemic Through a Dog's Eyes

By: James Gordon

Illinois' stay-at-home order amidst the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the way people live their lives for the foreseeable future. The change may be extremely evident to humans, but when it comes to Mimi the dog, she has likely barely noticed a difference in her owners' lifestyles within their Highland Park, Illinois, home.

On the outside, schools such as Edgewood Middle School, which sits right behind the Gordons' Highland Park home, is bare. On a typical Spring weekday, children can be seen playing basketball at the public hoops, playing soccer or football in the massive field, and socializing with each other. Following the stay-at-home order, the nets have been tied up on the basketball hoops, and social-distancing has turned the school's field into a ghost town.

Just like Edgewood, the Ravinia train station, which connects commuters from Highland Park to the city of Chicago, has turned into a ghost town due to the stay-at-home order. On weekdays, workers gather at the old building every 30 minutes to catch the next train to the city, and on weekends teenagers gather to hang out in the city with friends. 

Looking out onto Lake Michigan from the shores of Highland Park, it's hard to imagine when this pandemic will be over, but the cool lakefront air at least offers some type of calming feeling outside of the house.

Inside the house, some things haven't changed, such as Mimi curling up with my mother, Kathleen Gordon, every day at 5:00 P.M. CT as she tunes into the nightly news. 

Later in the evening, the rest of the family (from left to right: Bradley Gordon, Ethan Gordon)  joins Mimi and Kathleen to watch the new Michael Jordan documentary series -- "The Last Dance" -- on ESPN. Mimi is used to watching nighttime television with the family, but with the Gordon family being huge Bulls fans, there was a unique buzz of excitement in the air this time.

Another thing that hasn't been affected by the pandemic is Mimi being taken for car rides. She has her own car seat in Kathleen's BMW, and while she usually tags along often to run errands, this time she was joining me and my mother as we traveled to our favorite hot dog joint.

Mimi's favorite activity while perched in her seat is to observe whatever is happening on the sidewalks outside. With more dog owners walking their dogs more frequently as a means to get out of the house, Mimi has spent a lot of time barking at the bystanders.

Once arriving at Gene & Jude's, a hot dog restaurant in Elmwood Park, Illinois, my mother and I have to eat within the car to maintain social-distancing. While the food is just as good, it feels weird to only be able to eat restaurant food within confined spaces.

While we eat, Mimi is all tuckered out after the long ride and dozes off in her seat for the remainder of the car trip, something she is used to doing on her trips with her mother.

On a rare night that the family doesn't order out for dinner, my mother prepares Italian sausage with peppers as Mimi takes in the smells and sounds of the kitchen. 

Ethan lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago where he is studying to become a doctor, but the stay-at-home order has made him often homesick. Mimi is always happy to see him come home to Highland Park because that means he can cuddle with her. Seeing Mimi also helps Ethan relieve some stress of his new lifestyle that has him studying nearly all day within the close confines of the city.

Bradley also finds ways to relieve the stress of his new lifestyle by relaxing on the couch and playing guitar. As a doctor, his new lifestyle involves doing a lot of his work from home, including conducting psychiatric evaluations with his patients over Zoom video chats.

With Ethan spending the night, I hung out with him as we play NBA 2k20 on his Xbox One. Mimi joins us and watches over her brothers as they converse and laugh like the days before Ethan moved out of the house.

For the first time during the stay-at-home order, Kings Kennel -- the dog-grooming business in Riverwood, Illinois, that Mimi goes to -- was open for business, albeit while maintaining sanitary practices. Regardless, the excitement of Mimi was evident as she stood in her seat as her normal groomer approached the car to pick her up. 

Another first during the pandemic was the opening of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) on May 5, a hopeful sight for a baseball fan like myself. With a majority of televised sports being postponed for the foreseeable future, a live baseball game on ESPN represents a big push towards the reopening of sporting events in America.

Mimi may not know there's an unprecedented pandemic enveloping society, but she also may not realize how big of a warm spot she provides to her family every day as they navigate through new lifestyles.

Every night, I wonder when this terrible nightmare will be over, but with sports trickling back and some states seeing a drop in COVID-19 cases, a light on the horizon seems near.