Six Feet On Sunday
The cool, foggy March morning dissolved into a warm, sunny
Sunday afternoon. Normally that would
have been a perfect day to sip wine with friends outdoors at a neighborhood
bar, but nothing was normal Sunday or any day for the past few weeks.
This coronavirus pandemic has temporarily and radically
changed our lives. I hope it’s
temporary. Stay-at-home orders, social
distancing, washing hands fifty times a day, navigating medical advice,
enduring presidential misinformation, experiencing stress, fear, anxiety … that’s
living in the USA in the spring of 2020.
I am usually positive, optimistic ... half full not half
empty … realistic but hopeful. My emotional state right now, however, is cool
and foggy like the start of last Sunday.
My home is warm, inviting, mildly cluttered and a perfect reflection of
the two of us. I love being here. But except
for twenty minutes here and there, I’ve been in my home for two weeks. And this is only the beginning. The state of Maryland stay-at-home order could
last for two months. Maybe more.
Working from home is an interesting experience. I’ve been setting up a home studio for quite
a while, so that I could work from home during bad weather, and eventually
during a partial retirement. Now I have
to work from home. My setup is ok,
but tech glitches slow things down, adding frustration and reducing my usual
efficiency.
Watching the news is depressing. I refuse to watch Trump’s Sh*t Show. I wait for the fact-based excerpts from Fauci
and other experts and pray that they don’t get fired for telling the
truth. Most other stories on the nightly
news are either deadly statistics or heartwarming stories and I’m truly tired
of both. And this is only a few
weeks. Ouch.
At the moment I am writing this, 7:30pm Eastern, Tuesday March
31st, I should have been drinking my 3rd margarita at the
home of friends in central Florida. We would
have already had a tour of their retirement community, met some of their
neighbors, joked about golf carts being the main mode of transportation and
started making plans for more of the same tomorrow. We had to cancel that trip, of course, and we
have no idea when we’ll reschedule.
Ok, enough doom and gloom and depression. For today, at least.
I recently discovered another wonderful aspect of owning a
smart tv. I can play You Tube channels
on a 55-inch screen instead of just my iPhone.
And there are a growing number of musicians performing live from their homes. Check out Graham Nash singing “Our House”
from his living room.
We will all get through this. My positive side will win my current personal
battle. If you’re depressed or bored or
scared right now, you are not alone. But
we will get through this.
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