Day 81

I’m in NYC or at least I am in my dreams. Yes, in the pre-pandemic world, I was scheduled to be in NYC for a few days. Then on my way to the Netherlands and Berlin with Handsome Hubby.

Now my calendar is blank. No Broadway shows. No grand tours of the Vincent Van Gogh Museum or the Anne Frank Museum. And no new foods to try or great German beers to imbibe.

Small worries, of course, in our chock-full of worries worry-filled world. Coronavirus, continued police brutality, protests, massive unemployment …

Life On Hold

Yet, amid the headline-making worries, I think too about the plans and dreams on hold right now — the high school graduates waiting to see if they will launch their lives as full-fledged college freshmen living in dorms away from home, the young adults who are back at home because they lost jobs and apartments when the economy tanked, unhappy marrieds who planned to divorce but had to hit the “pause” button, families set to move across the country to begin a new job … the list goes on.

So, here we sit or at least shelter in place, cooking up a storm, cleaning with a fury. Our closets have never been neater. Our cabinets never better arranged. And we’ve never played more board games since the kids were little.

In some places, people are slowing emerging from their homes — much like a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis. It all seems scary and miraculous and frightening.

I went on an errand yesterday — my first. I felt so brave. So bold. So scared. It was a quick errand. I dropped something off at UPS. I actually held my breath as I dashed in and dropped off the package. What a coward! I used to be fearless! Now I’m Chicken Little. I guess a month of pneumonia does that to a middle-aged muddler!

And today it’s Friday, Day 81 of sheltering-in-place in Berkeley, Ca. How shall we mark the start of the weekend? Handsome Hubby’s TV pick or mine?

And This Random Thought

Yesterday Handsome Hubby inadvertently scared the sweet children next door. The kids brought over some cookies they had baked. They were setting the plate down on the steps, more than six feet away, but when Jon opened the door to greet them, the kids jumped. You see, Jon wasn’t wearing a mask. Some world we live in where a man without a mask is scary. Some world.