The rain was over by the time I awoke this morning but I was too sleepy/lazy/didn’t give a rats ass about getting up to do anything important, much to the chagrin of the dogs who had been sleeping with me, but were now fully awake because grandson was speaking excitedly to his dad, who had come to extricate said kid from house for a few hours, about something or other. The sound resonated loudly throughout our home. I was thinking my sleeping in could be a good habit to adopt.
Surprisingly I was neither perturbed nor amused. Instead I sat up in bed, propped the pillows behind me to determine if I was indeed awake enough to then began my morning ablutions. I collected my assortment of still dreamy thoughts.
Fortunately dear deaf dog, Mocha, did not yell at me as she often does when considering a meal might be forthcoming and this made it oh so Easy for me, once dressed in yesterday’s fashionable exercise garb (when was the last time I actually showered?) to stealthily enter the kitchen.
I quickly fed the dogs then retreated, with my mug of WBDecaf and a bowl of cereal, back into my hideaway to maintain my distance from distractions, I.e. dogs barking, daughter recording music, the metro whistling in front of our house, etc.
I may have said this before, but what the heck (thought I might say hell?-oops, there I did it.) here I go again.
We have passed the 28day mark in breaking old habits, but I think we are still going through heavy duty withdrawal. From what besides the obvious of going to work, school and the gym? You may ask?
Shopping is a big habit. More for some than for others. We have been raised on touchy-feely, peruse the aisles, throw it in the cart, pay at the register consumerism. It’s a stretch for some to be confined to a virtual shopping cart, even if you can comparison shop to your Google’s desire…and even tougher if you’re a kleptomaniac I suppose, though the only time I ever stole anything was when I was fifteen and took a pair of flowered capris only to have them hijacked by my older sister who subsequently ripped them while falling and ripping said pants that still had the tags, stoned on painkillers after dental surgery. I learned then that crime most certainly does not pay, but it’s best to pay wholesale whenever possible.
Live entertainment is habitual..at least it can be, for both performers, and audiences. Personally I am non-plussed by the zoom concerts. Is it because I don’t like staying at home in my pjs to be entertained by stars who are allegedly in the same boat but definitely on a different deck? Yeah, there might be some of that. Or maybe it’s because I might like (which I don’t) the roar of a crowd of stoned strangers, as they bob and weave about me in their tribal tattoos and piercings, gawd knows where, holding up their selfie sticks to prove to FB friends they were “there”. I do miss good live theatre and house concerts and standup. This just doesn’t quite work as well with an audience of one or for the artist…It’s hard to ascertain the temperature of the room when it’s everybody’s living room.
Dining out was a global ritual and opportunity to hang out with friends before the scourge made us watch cooking shows to boost our confidence and abilities in the kitchen. For many now it can mean concocting simple sandwiches and sitting in the back yard, consuming said victuals with a Bud, while intermittently swatting insects; all diners seated six feet apart with hand sanitizer at the ready.
Regular hangouts at the local coffee shop/pub/bowling alley have been replaced by coffee/cocktail zoom chats and walks with masks at ten paces. I miss my regular face to face Thursday postcard group…we now are on zoom but it ain’t quite as fun.
While much of our world has all but stopped, our neuroses (or is it just me?) have exploded at light speed…which makes me wonder just what kind of new habits am I now acquiring? Waking slowly and hanging out in bed seems like one I could get used to, ditto for writing and art and gradually starting my day in semi-silence. I wonder if today was just a one-off event.
Do I want things to go back to “normal”? No. Maybe. Change is inevitable…truly the only thing about which we can be certain. I’m ready to embrace it. But before I do I’m gonna have dinner and watch a RomCom.
Tune in.
Janet Bernson 