As an editor on large metropolitan newspapers, my phalanx of gatekeepers held the public at bay.

They saw that as their job and I didn’t argue with them. A few disgruntled souls may have come armed and looking to complain about something we published.
It was easy enough to go around them.
Anybody who invited me to breakfast, lunch or to speak to their group had a willing editor. Feed me and I will come.
None of us are accepting invitations to meet in person these days and it is making us lonelier than usual.
When reader Elizabeth Lindler shared her concerns with me by phone last week, I was, as southerners say, all ears.
Elizabeth and her husband Claude live on Old Cherokee Road across from New Providence Elementary. She was trimming the wisteria in front of their home, she said, when she discovered a problem.
I love the fragrance of wisteria blossoms but anyone who knows anything about it knows it will take over if you let it.
 Elizabeth was braving the passing cars because the wisteria was threatening to gulf her yard near the road. But the traffic was so heavy she gave up because she feared someone might hit her.
“Didn’t the governor ask people to stay home or just go to work?” she asked. “Can’t you write something about all those cars. Surely all of them weren’t going to work.”
She’s right. None of us know where they were going but traffic not only on Old Cherokee but many other roads is incredible.
Our News Editor Rose Cisneros wrote the other day about how many of us ignore the guidelines and put ourselves and our families at risk of covid-19 infection.
Even Old Grump woke up long enough to ask, “What part of ‘stay home’ and ‘keep your distance’ don’t we understand?”
A few days ago, our Congressman Joe Wilson sent me a check for a few of my books for his sons and asked me to drop them off at his West Columbia office.
I took I-20 to US 378 and was amazed how little traffic was on the interstate.
Even US 378 in front of Lexington Medical Center – usually a bottle neck – was relatively clear. But coming back on  Cromer Road, I found where much of the interstate traffic had gone.
Drivers are avoiding the interstates, fearing heavy traffic and fender benders. They are using roads like Cromer and Old Cherokee, figuring they are safer and will have less traffic. That’s not true.
Following Elizabeth’s plea for covid-19 safety and sanity, I urge you to travel as little as possible and keep your distance. 
 By the way, I want to thank David Dreher, Dusty Busher, Jennifer Bailey, Lauren Cash, Haley vanValkenburgh and Victoria Sightler for sharing charming photos of their families.
Please share your photos with other readers by emailing them to Rose Cisneros at rose.lexchron@gmail.com
Let us know what your family is doing by emailing me at JerryBellune@yahoo.com 
Next: More good news coming.