This has got to be changing all of us. You can’t go through this level of stress as a cultural event without imprinting deep scars, or without unlocking coping skills and creativity we would never have discovered without a catalyst. Scars will be easy to identify. As a cohort, we are all going to be able to point at damaged lungs, lingering hypertension, or hoarding tendencies that will be family lore for generations (like the way we nodded knowingly when we spoke of Granny’s cocoa powder supplies, as if living through the Great Depression explained why we still had some of it ten years after she died). I’m very curious what sort of positive changes will grow out of this era. The very nature of work has already shifted significantly, with everyone finding ways to work remotely on the fly. (I can only hope this one sticks, as disabled people have been demanding alternative work accommodations for decades, but it took this level of catastrophe for bosses to find out it wasn’t impossible after all.) There will be technology advances and (god willing and the creeks don’t rise) significant medical breakthroughs. The one change I don’t want to see? I saw someone wish that we would all be healthier from staying home, but he admitted that it was more likely we would all end up like the future people in Wall-E. (You haven’t seen it? Come on. We are all streaming movies while we are locked up. Get Disney+ and watch it.)
I’m ready to start making a fantasy list. I want to plan for what we can do months from now when we are past the crisis. Or at least past the biological crisis. The economic one will last years, and I’ve come to terms with that, mostly. But much like I told myself I would travel this year, once the cancer was good and gone, I want to make plans for the After Times. I’ll keep the destination goals, but I need to add other things too. What sort of things will I want to put on that list? Should I put season tickets to one of my Buffs teams on the bucket list? Learning a new craft? I’m not the parachuting or BASE jumping type, nor any other extreme sports, so that’s right out. I don’t want to spend money just to see it burn, so I won’t be too wild. What’s on your After Times list? I might copy off of other people’s work.
Some of my old high school classmates have started planting their gardens already. Some are old pros, some are new to it. It feels like we are heading towards a “victory garden” sort of summer. I am oddly at peace with this. Eager, even. I can’t put much outside yet, but warm weather is coming. The strawberries have popped up in the last week, although one bed of them needs to be moved ASAP. The goldfish went back to the outside pond this afternoon, but try as I did, I could not get a picture of them to illustrate the blog tonight. I just got a reflection on the surface of the water. Fixing up the garden and fish pond, and resetting the flagstone patio may just save my sanity during the lock in. Planning for the future will save my soul.
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