A Saturday in the New Normal Time

Let me collect a few thoughts from the past week.  Later historians may be interested in these recordings of our experiences as we settle into living with a new virus that has no cure and no vaccine.

--I've spent the last week feeling somewhat dizzy and off kilter.  It's not full-blown vertigo, but it's somewhat disorienting nonetheless.  If I believed that bodily states always mirror mental states, I might write an essay from that approach.  But if that's the case, I should have been feeling dizzy for months now.

--It's astonishing to me that I haven't seen some friends face to face in 3 months.  Once, when I thought about moving, I'd have thought about all the friends I'd leave behind, all the ways that staying in touch long distance isn't the same.  And now, here we are, staying in touch that way, by e-mail and phone calls.

--One of those friends is recovering from her kidney transplant that she had yesterday.  More about that in this blog post.  She's doing well, but I can't visit her during this time of a new virus ravaging the planet.

--If I didn't know that there was a disease out there and lots of protest going on about racism and police brutality, yesterday would have felt like a normal June day.  We did some cooking and spent the afternoon relaxing in our pool.  I am grateful that we have a house and a pool and a yard during these times when it's wiser to stay away from groups.

--Of course, we've never been happy to be in groups, pandemic or no pandemic.  I know about crowds and the ways that people's behavior can go terribly wrong when we're in groups. 

--And my spouse and I almost always like our own cooking better than restaurant meals.  I do miss having someone else do the clean up.

These past weeks of constant news of the progression of the disease and the horrible behavior of various people who have power have taken their toll.  I need to keep making an effort to do the activities which help me recharge and stay engaged.