Photo of Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan

by Bruce Hyland
Photo credit: Joyce Bolinger

Tom sometimes feels impatient, uncertain, nervous, agitated, but always grateful that he’s safe with his husband in their home. (He was lounging by the pool as we had this phone interview.)

He’s not used to being at home so much. He counts himself fortunate that he and his husband are getting along great. He feels for others who are having a more difficult time, or even trapped with an abusive partner.

He has a sense that life will be changing. One aspect, given his nonprofit expertise, is how the performing arts will change. How will they survive? How will they adapt? He’s pleased to see pollution levels come down dramatically, even with it only being having been a short time when ships, planes, polluting vehicles, etc. made changes that allowed this.

He hopes we may realize that we just don’t need all the stimulation we thought we needed. We can live a little slower and a little easier.

He tries to keep his fear in check about COVID-19 changing or mutating. To do that, he and his husband play board and card games, and Tom paints.

His message for Senior Pride (and other nonprofits): Keep diving into the mission of the organization, despite constraints. The mission is what’s important. He also suggests if we have the means, it would be good to make a contribution to nonprofits and find ways to support small businesses.