As far as I know, I'm not a whiner by nature. I'm mostly an optimist. But now I think I'm joining many millions of people who feel the same way I do. Maybe we should call ourselves the Worldwide Whiners Society.
Whine #1: I want to go to an air conditioned restaurant full of people and complain about how noisy it is.
#2: I want to throw all of my masks in the trash. Or at least the recycle bin.
#3: I want to have six friends to my house for dinner. Inside, and closer than six feet.
#4: It is summer in the Tucson desert. I want to be able to walk or ride my bike any time of the day instead of very early in the morning. I am not a morning person.
#5: I want to go to a real life church service. And a real live continuing education class. And a real live AA meeting. Zoom helps, but not really.
#6: I want to greet every friend I have with a long hug.
#7: I want to swim in a pool in the evening. The one in our retirement community closes at 4 because there aren't staff on duty after that to do the every-two-hour sanitizing thing.
#8: I want to see at play at the Arizona Theatre Company sitting between my husband Art and my good friend Ellen. We have season tickets we probably won't be able to use.
#9: I want to participate in the march on Washington instead of staying home because flights are too crowded and I'm an "elderly".
#10: I want to fly to Greece just one more time to volunteer with refugees.
On the other hand, my optimist side is grateful:
Grateful #1: We have A/C in our little Tucson place.
#2: I've got about eight masks, and I like them all.
#3: I have way more than six friends in my life - in Tucson and in Seattle and in other places in the country and around the world.
#4: I have an e-bike and there is a great bicycling loop in Tucson and my bike will get me around in the hills of Washington State.
#5: I have a church that feels like home, and continuing education classes available in both Tucson and Seattle, and AA meetings in both places that I love.
#6: I am a good hugger.
#7: There are multiple swimming pools nearby and I can use them just about any time of day except in the evening.
#8: I love the theatre, and there are excellent venues in both Tucson and Seattle. And I can afford season tickets.
#9: Even though I'm an "elderly" I've found joy in volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers and people in conflict with each other.
#10: I have a bunch of destinations still on my travel bucket list, and as long as I keep myself safe and healthy I'm likely to get to them all.
It's about perspective, you know. And this too shall pass.
Mary's desk
4 hours ago
9 comments:
Yep.
I hope it passes before I do.
Like you, we have plenty to complain about, mostly the same things. And like you, we have much to be thankful for: we're not front-line workers, we haven't lost a job or income, we get to self-isolate in a decent home in a nice neighborhood, and so far at least we're not sick.
Oh I hear you, and I appreciate that you've turned every whine into a moment of gratitude. As Tom said above, I'm fortunate to be retired and not have to worry about much.
Take care and stay well!
I so enjoyed your whines and gratitude lists. I could have whined about every one of those, other than the bike and pool ones. And I am eternally grateful that I don't have to worry about lost income, being retired. Love the post! :-)
Your theater is still doing live shows? None here in California.
I miss the pot lucks at my art group and meeting in person once a week on Thursdays for art coffee and great conversation IN PERSON. I miss going TO the library and spending an hour or two in the stacks. (Our library is open but we won’t go indoors right now.) I am missing being able to drive to our son’s Loft, walk around town, get on the light rail and go into Phoenix for a new restaurant and hanging out later around Tempe Lake. I miss the Hale Theater, I miss all the little thrift stores I visited, and craft supplies shops where I whiled away some private time while My husband worked part time.HE misses working part time, he is a chiropractor and it’s too up close and personal, we are over 65 and many of our patients are travelers, etc..so, he may really be retired for a while. I MISS TRAVELING!
On the bright side, I am SO GRATEFUL we have a pool with a waterfall and lovely back patio area I can relax in,swim,read,happy hour.Soooo grateful for ZOOM and friends who will meet with me on regular basis.Glad my BOOKCLUB moderator is keeping us all on our toes with a ZOOM bookclub. Grateful I CAN exercise: I have a treadmill, many youtube videos saved, a bike, a pool, and we can walk in the big beautiful parks all close to home.
AM grateful we have no pre existing conditions, no meds, good immune systems, so we feel we have a good shot at weathering this storm (tsunami is more like it..)..and recover if we do get sick.
Thanks for sharing. We’re all in this together....
Good post, thank you!
I miss very little (apart from hugs) in my isolation which has now lasted 4 months. On the positive side, this dreadful virus might be showing us that societies that value the community do best and we'd be wise to follow that path.
On the other positive side I just published my iso-project, an illustrated children's book for 3-8 year olds. On the Wings of an Albatross, an A-Z of Australian and New Zealand birds. Unfortunately Amazon are not shipping to Australia at the moment so I'll have to make do with the eBook version for now.
https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Albatross-Z-Australian-Zealand-ebook/dp/B08BWJD9RT
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