I no longer have any words to describe what’s going on in this country: People are dying every day because of that monster in the White House. And yes, I am referring to both the pandemic and the racial atrocities. I used to be quite political on this blog, back before there was social media, but nowadays I reserve this spot for a break from “the world.” But the last month or so have left me unable to just turn off the bad stuff, so I haven’t written anything here. But today I’m feeling some peace (for no particular reason), so I figured I’d check in. Please don’t think me tone-deaf; you can check out Twitter or FB if you want to know what I think politically (I have a feeling you already know…).
***
First off, we are all healthy here. I am one of only a handful of people I know who is still quarantining as much as possible. I haven’t been to a grocery store in nearly 3 months! Restaurants just opened here in Mass., but you couldn’t pay me to set foot in one (we are doing our fair share of takeout, though, to keep our neighbors in business!). I can’t imagine eating in a restaurant until there’s a vaccine. I'm not even interested in sitting at an outdoor restaurant table and taking off my mask to eat. Here's how I look at it: Every day that I avoid standing a foot away from a supermarket cashier, I’m also avoiding the hairdresser that cashier saw yesterday, and the waiter who took that hairdresser’s order at a restaurant the day before, and the bank teller who handled the waiter’s cash deposit, and so on. I do the things I have to (like getting a blown tire repaired or picking up a prescription that got shipped to CVS instead of home), but I don’t do anything else.
And you know what? I’m turning into a very happy hermit! I do miss grocery shopping, but if I went now, it wouldn’t be the kind of shopping I enjoy—lazily browsing the aisles, taking my time choosing produce, examining new products, seeing what looks nice in the prepared foods case, chatting with my favorite cashier. No, I would dash in, heart pounding, grab the 10 things I need, pay, and dash out, panting and sweating. Not fun. I also miss my volunteer gig at the food pantry. I don't miss a whole lot else out there in the world.
But we’ve also had some good news around here:
First, Steph completed her Master’s in Early Childhood Education and Developmental Psychology! Her department had a small Zoom graduation ceremony, which was really lovely. We wouldn’t have likely gone to the huge Boston University graduation anyhow, so this was just fine by us. And, as if that weren’t enough, she has already found a full-time teaching job for the fall! We couldn’t be more proud.
Then, Julie graduated from high school! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I feel terrible that she got cheated out of everything fun for her senior year. There was no prom, but there was an online graduation, which was better than nothing and just fine for what it was, but it wasn’t the real thing. (They are talking about having a real graduation in July … color me skeptical.) She also won a big award from the World Language department; in lieu of Senior Awards Night, a bunch of the language teachers drove over and held an amazing mini-ceremony right on our lawn! I soaked my mask with tears.
And Julie’s other piece of big news is that she will be a freshman at Wesleyan University in the fall, which is my alma mater, so I’m tickled pink. As of now, Wes (and Colby College, where Pete will be a senior) have both said they plan to start the semester a few weeks early (in August) so they can be done by Thanksgiving and send everyone home for a couple of months (rather than have everyone go home for Thanksgiving and then come back and infect each other). Stay tuned…
That's all for now. I plan to catch up on all the fluffy stuff (recipes, book reviews, etc.) soon.
I hope everyone out there in blogland is doing well. Please stay in touch in whatever way suits you best.
Leave a Reply