Living in the Time of Corona

Good Evening my Corona friends and hope everyone is happy and healthy and enjoying our time here on planet earth. Well, I have to say that I did not see that coming with Techie taking over my blog and singing my praises and probably even paid the kids a few bucks to say nice things about their mother. I know my grandkids really do like me, as they don’t know enough yet and besides, I let them watch videos and eat all the junk food they want, so what is not to like?  I know through all this crazy shit going down this past year that I may be one of the luckiest women alive to have my most wonderful family.  So what do you think I did to thank Techie for such a very public announcement of love on Valentine’s Day, just said I few days alone for me sounds grand. Honestly, my daughter and family went up to Maine and wanted us to come for a few days. The idea of driving for hours and being buttoned up in another small house just didn’t get me excited. I can assure you if the weather was more agreeable and we could do some biking or hiking I could get on board. Techie said maybe I will go alone and I couldn’t pack his bag fast enough and send him on his way. The very thought that I could have this one big room to myself for a few days literally brought me to tears. Hey, the little things in life, being able to keep the volume up on the telly all night while I watch episodes of Law and Order that I have literally seen a dozen times before, HEAVENLY.  I know it makes no sense as what many of us have been craving during this pandemic is being among friends and family and not craving solitude. I had two nights where I only talked to the person doing my take-out and then my occasional shout-out to Benson and Stabler.

Well, I don’t know about anyone else but now the big news around here is did you get an appointment? Of course, I am talking about the vaccine and it is top of mind for Techie, me, and most of our friends. Used to be want to meet for drinks or dinner and now it’s about doing a deep dive on the vaccine hunt. Luckily most of us have just received the first dose and already planning our escape that will happen after the second. I renewed my Global Entry online today and techie was very impressed that actually did it all by myself. I think he may be worried he won’t be as useful if I can manage these things on my own, but don’t worry my love I still want and need you forever. I also did manage to make my own vaccine appointment and there was a lot of trial and error.  I booked an appointment and then when back on and got another appointment, so canceled the first one, but typical of how I screw things up, I thought I made it a day earlier but actually a day later.  I was all excited to go for my appointment and then freaked out when it wasn’t’ that day but rather a day later than the first.  Unfortunately, not the first time for me, have shown up at the airport more than a few times on the wrong day. You would think once it happened you would know better and triple-check, but the queen of multitasking will never learn her lesson.  I have my next appointment, it’s written on the calendar and my roommate promises me that he will remind me when it’s time.

I am absolutely giddy with excitement and feel like I just got a new set of wings and can fly away. I hope I am right about this vaccine and let the liberation begin. Look out world “the olds” are coming and they are ready to party and trust me we know how to do it. We partied pretty hard back in the day.

Just saying………….

If Being a Mom were easy, Dad would do it

This is the headline from one of my favorite cards I have ever received from Peggy, and that is saying a lot because she is a good card giver.

I always remember as a kid my Grandma Burns would proudly hang all her holiday cards from friends and family on her dining room door, but Peggy’s had a special place. I would always know where to look, open the door, and just inside I would find the salacious card even if, admittedly, I did not yet understand the adult content. Peggy continued to push the envelope, unabashedly sending them to her mother, knowing full well that card would be dutifully hung with the others even if more discreetly.

This is one of my favorite Peggy attributes; she is 100% authentic and pushes boundaries every day. She is smart, persistent, passionate, and determined. Not only does she embody all of these qualities, but she also helps bring them out in others through her words and actions and love notes. While her emails leave so much to be decoded, there is a literal job category for that; she has a special knack for knowing exactly what to say at exactly the right time (as long as it’s in analog). Her wisdom is often sought after advice or sometimes offered as an unsolicited and much needed, swift kick in the A-S-S. The world is a better place because Peggy always knows right from wrong and isn’t afraid to speak up and charge forward regardless of imaginary lines or societal structures that may have otherwise hindered the timid. She goes boldly and doesn’t just bring you along but inspires you to find your voice along the way. After the path has been cleared, she is always there for mentorship, support, or a little note in the mail to lift you when you need it the most.

Her cards will always be my favorite (plus I can’t understand those fucking emails either).

-Erica

And Now A Few Words from The Peanut Gallery…

Good evening my Corona friends and I hope everyone is doing well, happy as one can be under the circumstances. In less than two months it will have been one full year since I first decided to chronicle this adventure of Covid-19. Holy shit! I just never saw it coming, figure lock down a few weeks or months, and it would all be in the rearview mirror, but this virus is really a mean bitch and just won’t go away. Now she is morphing into something new because she isn’t through messing with us, or just not ready to let it go. The whole world seems to be paying the price, and we must have done something horrible to have her mad at us this long. Apparently, Australia and New Zealand are not on the naughty list or maybe just getting teased about it.  I swear I often wonder if I am living in a different world when I watch the news or get a view into other parts of the country. There seems to be no stopping those Tampa Fans from celebrating their first Brady win Sunday night. I am not sure we could have kept these fans in lockdown if he was still in New England.  Of course, they would have been in the streets because unlike Florida, our bars are closed, locked up tight. Oh well, I have gotten used to my own pour and drinking alone because my roommate is a bit of a tea tootler. Now that the weather has turned and more snow is on the ground, my walks have gotten shorter. A few blocks to pick up my take out is all I am good for lately. Techie is still out there for his daily constitutional, and he is losing weight, and I am picking up his lbs. This just doesn’t seem to be fair, we have the same things for dinner, and Vodka is supposed to be calorie-free. I do admit I should have never have started back on the chardonnay but once you let that old friend back into your life hard to throw her out. My friend Eileen, once told Celia and me, on one of our travels that we were drinking dipshit juice. I should have listened to her. Lately, I feel like a woman on a verge of a nervous breakdown, as I am sick of Facetime, Zoom, and Instagram. Never tried Tik Tok, nor will I for everyone’s sake. Again living in another world when you see people posting while traveling and out to dinner, I just want to go somewhere, preferably a sunny beach.  Remember I live in one large room with my lover but after being closed up for almost a year, the walls can shrink like a Fellini movie.

Alright enough of the self-loathing and pity because I actually have it a pretty damn good, nice warm loft, beautifully furnished, stocked Fridge, liquor cabinet, so many restaurants for takeout within walking distance, and most importantly Techie reluctantly signed me up for a lot of streaming services that he never wanted, but anything to keep me quiet. He just puts on his headphones and goes to his blog sites, I am pretty sure it’s not porn but rational thinking sights, that’s what he says. If you know him, you can trust that they are just that.

Well, the latest crisis here is that our dishwasher broke and we have had to wash by hand for the last few weeks, oh the suffering…  But actually, it got us thinking that we can survive with just a few coffee mugs, plates, 1 set of utensils for each of us, a wine glass, and a drinking glass.  When we moved here from a place that had five bathrooms to one, we gave away a lot of towels, because you only really need one each, as you throw it in the wash every few days. So now we wash out our coffee mugs every morning and use the dishwasher as our drying stand with the evening plates. Sometimes we don’t use plates and just stand over the sink, crack some lettuce and pour a little dressing on and no need to dirty any dishes. Yes this minimalist lifestyle can grow on you, but I just don’t know how I keep accumulating more stuff, I just don’t know how it gets in here. The craziest thing is when you lose something that you just had your hands-on. There aren’t that many places it can be, it’s one room.  Last week my granddaughter Maisie couldn’t find her shmata, Blue, and we had just had it. Took us an hour to locate it and I swear I looked under the sheets several times but then on the last try there it was, mind-blowing.  Well, it was not like we had anything else to do being shut-ins we played hide and seek, where she hid in the same place every time it was her turn. She had a hard time grasping the concept, but fun, never the less.

This weekend coming up is Valentine’s Day and I am going on a vaccine hunt. I read about the vaccine hunters that show up at places and wait to see if there are any leftovers. Maybe Cupid’s little arrow will strike me with a dose of Moderna, so I can be set free.

Just saying………