Thanks, Mark!

Mostly we are busy and mostly “as usual.”  There are house and garden to keep in order, meals to cook, stories to write, books to read… all the pieces of ordinary life.  “So,” I asked myself this morning, “now that we are approaching the end of our third Sheltering Month, what do I miss most?”

Without a doubt what I miss most is feeling safe in the greater world — the world on the other side of our old picket fence.  Then, in rapid order, I miss being able to visit with friends and loved ones up close and personal.  And I miss the library.

There are other things that I find worrisome but I don’t exactly miss them  — several doctor’s appointments (eyes, teeth, skin), for instance.  I just keep postponing them.  Then, too, are the up-close-and-personal amenities such as haircuts and manicures but, amazingly, those have been relegated to very low priority.

Wishful Thinking

I say “amazingly” because my words to live by have always been “appearances are everything” — a shallow sounding philosophy until you really think about it.  Suffice it to say that I feel secure in the belief that Nyel sees beyond my shaggy hair and snaggly fingernails and, for the nonce, he’s the only one who sees me up close and personal.  Besides, it’s more a matter of degree than anything else.  I’m still trying my best to appear “sheveled, kempt, and ruley” which, sometimes, is all that can be expected.

What about you?  What do you most miss during these sheltering times?