I wake up in the morning and say to myself, "Oh, yeah. It's another day of COVID-19 quarantine." After showering and dressing, I look in the mirror and realize I am several weeks overdue for a hair cut. I'm starting to look like the Wild Man of Borneo. Should I put on some make-up? Nah, seems like too much work. My pretty NexGen nails, recently trimmed, have now grown out leaving a span of unpolished nail underneath the color, which looks weird. Since I can't reach my toes after the spinal fusions I had a couple years ago, my daughter Hannah had to come over and clip my toenails and remove the polish. It's not a good look with sandals.
Without our usual school-day routine with Noah, we're sleeping later, eating breakfast later, having lunch at about two and don't seem to have a schedule at all, which drives me a little crazy. My freelance writing work has dried up for the time being. I'm ve-r-r-y slowly doing a 1000-piece puzzle of a Monet painting of a bridge over waterlilies. Several books have been finished and I'm currently re-reading Little Women. Andy and I have been watching anything we can find on Netflix, Amazon or Acorn or even network TV. Almost every evening, we pop Toby in the car and go for a drive, but we're quickly running out of routes to take. We order take-out once or twice a week to relieve the tedium of cooking, but there are only so many places close by. I really miss our cleaning lady, Veronica. For the past few years, she has relieved of us having to dust, clean bathrooms, mop floors and vacuum, tasks we must do now. I phone my sister and friends so I can have another adult female to talk to, and everyone is feeling the same way. Bored. Frustrated. Feeling like a caged animal. Sometimes, I feel like screaming. The good news is that no one in our family, including us, has gotten the virus, so we're grateful for that. Matter of fact, we have a lot to be grateful for. We have great kids and three healthy grandchildren. The sun is shining, all the trees have leafed out and the world looks clean after a hard rain the other day. Our fridge and pantry are full of food and we get along pretty well after 50 years of marriage. Although we don't know when this nightmare will come to an end, we just need to continue keeping ourselves clean, fed and occupied. That's not so bad, is it?
1 Comment
Aunt Jeanne
4/30/2020 08:06:41 am
Sounds like a pretty nice life except for the toenails. We can't have any visitors in the building and I had the same surgery so I am still trying new ways to reach my toes. We eat very good meals here but must have them alone in our apartments. TV has become my best friend. Kathy leaves odd and ends of groceries for my sister out in front of the building for me to pick up.Judy bakes us goodies and Jim drops them off.So, life is pretty good.I sure will miss having Kathy here when she returns to Florida. Stay safe and stay well. Love
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AuthorI'm Chris Barabasz, retired from a 35-year career managing communications for health care development (that's fundraising for you civilians). I'm a wife, mother, grandmother and freelance writer. My husband Andy and I moved from Delaware to Texas to be closer to our daughters and three adorable grandchildren. Archives
January 2024
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