Surviving a Year of Isolation

 

  2020 is finally in the rearview mirror --though as with many New Year's Days I woke up to the question "What's different?" The answer, as of today not much. I concur that turning the page on the calendar has some symbolic meaning, but the yearning for things to be different doesn't equate to changes that make things different. There. That's an uplifting thought on New Year's Day, isn't it?

But --the seeds of change are always there; they just need to be planted, watered, and nurtured to become full blown difference-makers. That idea seemed to be a cue for me to enumerate (in no particular order of importance) the seeds that I put away over the past year that helped me make it through one of the more ghastly years of my lifetime.

  I have a writer friend (so happy to be able to call you 'friend', Emily) that during the chaos of the past four years began a daily social media posting called "Today's One Good Thing". Each day she would list something good that had made her smile, laugh, or inspired her. She invited her social media friends to post their  one good thing as well for that day. While some days I didn't have it in me to find my own one good thing, reading the one good thing of others always gave me a positive spot in what may have been a discouraging day. Thank you Emily for One Good Thing and for generating the idea for today's blog --which is a reworked rip-off from your post today.  Water that seed, keep that bright green shoot growing.

  Kate and Christina: My two daughters kept me firmly tethered to planet earth. Christina with her daily phone calls (which I seriously believe are wellness checks) in which we discussed whatever flitted through our brains. Obviously there wasn't much news to share as we were both confined to our home spaces by the disease. Nevertheless, there always seemed to be subjects that needed a workover whether it was the political state of the country, her new kitten, or the condition of the business she and several partners founded from the ashes of a lay-off early in the year; a business that is doing extremely well considering the economic climate. Here's to expertise and doing what you know and making it pay.

  And my eldest Kate--she and her husband gave me several days of anxiety as they were trapped flying from airport to airport in the Far East as the pandemic shut everything down. They left on their Thailand/Singapore/Maldives honeymoon in March on published information from the State Department that over seas travel wasn't being restricted --and then while at the elephant sanctuary in Thailand, it was. This is the Pompeo State Department after all, and was the infancy of down playing the pandemic --just a hint of what was to come. After being denied entry into two countries they finally found a flight home to a completely unprepared nation. They were surprised after experiencing all the health precautions in the countries they visited in the Far East. But by the Grace of God, they didn't become infected going through customs in the U.S. Ever creative she and her sister have launched an Instagram account devoted to their house plants. 'Two Shoots', in which potted plants  are the stars of the show. I have spent some time this year thinking about their love of growing green things which takes me back to my own pre-child life of collecting various house plants and sharing their care with a friend. I am able to pass along my own house plant wisdom, curated after long years of houseplant husbandry which boils down to this: don't kill the same kind of plant twice. If it dies under your care it isn't the plant for you. Which is why I have multiple phylodendron.

  Kate and I share books we love and her take on politics, social change, and the world in general. Her opinions are  well researched and thought out. I always learn something new after talking to her. Love it when the kid informs the parent.

  Pets of the Pandemic. I don't know what I would have done without my feline and canine housemates.

    They have been able assistants while I work from home-the cats laying on my computer keyboard with impunity. My office space has sliding doors to the back yard and an unusually large squirrel and chipmunk population which means that many of my days are reduce to being a doorman for both my mutts as they are constantly on squirrel patrol. The volunteer fire department is down the road. Every time the ambulance goes by (which in these times is sadly more frequently than normal) I am privileged to a serenade of howling. Working from home does have it's challenges.

  Miss Maybellene, the Beagle mix (so named due to her musical roots as she is a Memphis native) became spoiled rotten this year. For anyone who has never experienced the love of a hound, I highly recommend it. Cuddly, good humored, abundant personality, demanding and funny, I now at long last understand why Beagle. When exercising her BAAA-ROO, one needs ear plugs as the decibels rival those of an air raid siren. Awesome set of lungs on that dog.

 Peetie, the Corgi/Chihuahua mix is the Head of Security, perched on the back of the sofa assessing the threat of everyone and everything that passes by the house. He scatters UPS and FedEx delivery guys with his raucous barking and "I mean business" growls. I keep telling him they bring the Chewy boxes but he sees Trojan Horses in those deliveries. He's a good little guy, though has become crankier and crankier in his old age. But then so have I.

  There he is, doing a security check.

  My sister and brother whose activities gave me a window to what's happening in the outside world. My brother posted photos of a state park and small town tour he's been doing in Texas absorbing local history and generously sharing what he and my sister-in-law were learning as well as beautiful shots of the diverse topography of Texas. My sister allowed me into her world as a theater professor at Case Western University in Cleveland as she figured out how to produce and put on a play over Zoom with her students all socially distancing from different states. With her business partners she also was able to put on a link to their experiencial theater production of "Shadow of the Run"- a very well received project that was delayed after it's first production by the pandemic. Instead a Zoom production was launched with proceeds going to unemployed theater professionals in the Cleveland area. Whenever I see her over Zoom I want to call her Barbara, the character she played in the online production.  With her pandemic long hair she just looks like a Barbra to me.

  My political pals. At the beginning of the year we were ready to activate --training to register voters, and otherwise campaign for our candidates of choice. That was put on hold as the pandemic issues grew. They kept my spirits up posting hilarious memes and articles within our little group. We did what we could. 

 

  My pandemic hair. I have kept my hair short for many years --since my children were small as it was just easier not to worry about hair. Who would have guessed that as it grew out that along with the gray it became curly? I'll have to think about what I'm going to do with that.

  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Early on I thought that yet another tragedy had taken too high a toll on Biden, that we needed someone younger, more energetic. What I have come to know is that the loss of his son has tempered him to tungsten steel. Even though he doesn't have as much spring in his step as during the Obama years, he is exactly what the country needs as we go through this period of national loss. He has made me cry on more than one occasion as he so ably expresses the anguish of a nation. Harris represents all the joy and energy that we have the ability to summon. The ascension of a woman to the second highest office in the land is a good omen for the future.

  The written word. I have done more reading than writing as inspiration hasn't been as easily summoned this year - but it is coming back to me and I have one piece that I am hoping to publish in 2021. It needs work, but who knows? 

  The doctors and nurses who have worked beyond human endurance to save as many of us as possible while so many ignored the warnings regarding this virus. The dedicated folks here in town have pulled my 91 year-old-father back from the brink of Covid. I would say the jury is still out --this is a nasty disease, but the immediate crisis seems to be over. I urge everyone to get the vaccine as soon as humanly possible and until then -mask up. Let's give these people a break. They need our help to succeed and quite possibly save someone you love.

  Happy New Year --to a new year and a re-blossoming of national purpose. If we stick together we got this.