On June 22 I’ll turn 100, and I’m still writing columns for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, but like everyone else I’m stir crazy. It’s been weeks since I’ve been able to visit my wife in her nursing home because it’s locked down. We talk by phone or Skype, yet normally I would visit every other day. It’s not easy being unable to see the person who’s so important to you.

Have I seen anything like this in my lifetime? Absolutely not. The tornado of 1953 that tore through Worcester was devastating but affected a small portion of the city. The Hurricane of 1938 may be the closest. But this is something different.