Like you, I’m losing all sense of time. Each day is like the one before. Some days are exciting: we get a delivery! Good times.
I feel as though the anxiety is ramping down a bit. It seems like we’ve seen the worst, and, as long as the people in charge don’t jump the gun and let us out before we have testing/tracking available for EVERYONE, things will improve a little bit as time goes by.
Here are some things that suck:
- School is cancelled for the rest of the school year.
- Girl Scout camp is canceled.
- CrimeCon (May) is rescheduled for October.
- Our 14 year old cat died one night, in my arms, as I attempted to give her mouth-to-snout.
On the bright side:
- I had all three kids at home for Easter!
- I’m still afraid of my sewing machine, but am able to make masks–albeit slowly–sewing by hand.
- The onions, broccoli, and green peppers I planted are not yet deceased!
- I FINALLY read Diary of Anne Frank. (Not that it’s *bright*, but it was high time to read it)
- We’re having a Quarantine Christmas on April 25! There will be some minimal decorating, cooking baking, and presents! Mama Claus is not coming down the chimney, nor in through the skylight, thank you.
Also, I hereby renounce wearing bras! This is only possible due to my reconstruction/reduction surgery in November. The rest of me may be old and saggy but I’ve got the tits of a sixteen year old!
My therapist taught me a cool thing called “Beauty Meditation” which I nearly always call Beauty Bathing. When you get stressed or overwhelmed or just superblah about the situation, she says to stay still and focus on something beautiful and just appreciate it for its loveliness. Maybe it’s a painting or sculpture, maybe it’s a pattern of light on the wall, or perhaps the nature outside your window.
I like to sit in my zero-gravity lawn chair in the backyard, and bathe in the warmth of the sun. Beauty isn’t just visual, after all! I close my eyes and just focus all my attention on the warmth on my skin and the dappled light behind my eyelids. Breathe in the smell of new spring life. Listen to the birds, see if you can hear the sap rising in the trees.
This may be the only time in our lives that we can be still long enough to really BE.
Watching
Little House on the Prairie
Castlevania
Alexa and Katie (my 10 year old is watching it, but I get sucked it. It’s really good!)
Reading
Diary of Anne Frank
The Last Hours (It’s about the Black Plague and it’s by a great mystery writer, Minette Walters)
The Body: A Guide for Occupants
Listening
This Podcast Will Kill You (multi-part eps on Covid-19)
100 Years of Solitude read by John Lee
Dubliners read by Andrew Scott
Bruce Springsteen Live: 75-85
Trixieland 