Saturday 18 April 2020

They Paved Paradise

I haven't used this thing (in the photo) in a while but it's a "fruit guard".... you can put your fruit in it (of appropriate shape/size of course) and it will keep it from getting bashed too much in your lunch bag.  When I bought it, I also noticed that it accidentally (?) looked super cute!  Aaaaaanyway....

I was thinking, in addition to how it sometimes hits me what a unique situation this is... a worldwide phenomenon.... I also am quite regularly hit by an intense sadness around it all.  It hurts me and makes me sad that we have to be like this... that we have to consider physical distancing and gloves/masks to be around people in a way I don't think we are really built for.

I mean, I'm an introvert.  For sure.  But that doesn't mean I don't miss interacting with people.  I still smile and nod and say hello, from a distance, on walks, when I pass someone.... sometimes.  But I miss the closeness.  I miss avoiding each other on sidewalks.  Noticing a runner approaching and skimming past you.  Reaching down to let a dog sniff my hand as I wander by.  I miss people just being relaxed around each other.  I miss being annoyed that someone was in your personal space bubble because it was annoying, not because there might be an exchange of a scary virus.  And yes, I know, I know, we're always incidentally spreading colds and flus and germs with our closeness, it's just this one is different.  And it makes me sad sometimes to see.

I got emotional the other day driving past a grocery store and seeing the long line of folks, physically distanced, wearing gloves and masks and all the rest and I wish it wasn't like this.

As Joni Mitchell reminds us.... "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone."

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