More Stuff That’s Different
#1 My friends have been known to shake their heads and remark how youthful I seem – “and that’s because half the time Jadi still acts like a kid”. With the corona virus now governing behavior, I have to make myself stop and think before I act like I normally do. Because our world is in a new normal…
We live on the third floor of an apartment building. Without ever noticing that I do it, as I head down the steps at every landing I grab the railing and swing myself around to the next set of stairs. Germs! Germs! Germs! Now I reach the second floor and catch myself doing this, yet again; I consciously remove my hand from where I’ve wrapped it around the railing, and slow myself down. I descend the rest of the stairs like a grown-up.
#2 I’m a list-maker. You know that joke about the first list? Someone made two columns a piece of paper and wrote that the world is divided into two groups: 1. those who makes lists and 2. those who don’t. Ahem. I’m a list-maker or I have a crap memory, take your pick.
A drawer in our kitchen contains an ever-longer grocery list. Our town has two butcher shops, plenty of bakeries, and vegetable and fruit vendors. I can still buy those items spontaneously. Uwe makes a run to a larger supermarket for stuff like toilet paper (hello there, all you other corona virus shut-ins!) and pasta, and rice, and canned tomatoes, etc. Gone are the days where I grab him before he can get out the door and suggest, “Since you’re going to the store anyway….” I guard that shopping list until it contains enough stuff that someone ‘has’ to make a shopping run. Because I’d rather go without spaghetti than have to go without Uwe.
Food shopping has become a high-risk activity. WTF.
#3 I don’t like the phone much, and I hate Skype. Who’s that old hag in the upper corner of the screen? Oh, right, that’s me, ouch, and where did this incarnation come from? Some things I can’t blame on the corona virus. I got old all by myself.
#4 Where was I?
#5 The phone, and Skype, and Zoom. I’m learning to love them. I miss all my friends and loved ones more than I can say. If talking through a stupid computer screen is the closest I can get to the real thing I’ll take it. Even if it’s painful to remove that piece of masking tape from the little camera on the screen. It’s like ripping a bandage off to reveal reality. *(See #3)
#6 I nominate the sloth as the official animal mascot for my lockdown. Uwe photographed these gorgeous sloths in Panama and Costa Rica less than 3 months ago. It really does feel like Edgar Allan Poe’s words from 1859 :
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream
Stay safe everyone. Stay healthy.
NOTES: Text © Jadi Campbell 2020. Quotation from The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe Volume II. Poems and Tales A Dream within a Dream. wikisource.org Photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see Uwe’s pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.
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#1 tell Uwe I love his shots of the sloth.
#2 same with the stairs.
#3 same with my face on zoom calls lol 🙂
#4 almost the same with the shopping lists – we’re more careful than we used to be about limiting the number of outings for groceries.
#5 I try really hard not to touch *anythng* when I’m out of the apartment.
#6 I yell at runners on our forest trail who don’t practice correct social distancing.
#7 we really do live in a different world now.
#8 the sun is shining, the day is the warmest we’ve had in a while, and we’re going out for socially distanced ice cream with friends.
#9 stay safe and well Jadi and Uwe.
Alison
I was surprised to realize how many sloths we saw! In one of our hotels I chatted with a group of women who were doing an annual girls’ trip in Costa Rica. I was all excited about the sloth in the trees behind the building…. They sighed and said, “We’re from Guyana. We have plenty of sloths at home.” Alison I think we have to go to Guyana now.
Jadi I love your posts and miss you. It’s been many years and yes I’ve gotten old too. Love the pictures that Uwe takes. Always love reading your stories.
Well, it’s true what they say. Getting old is awful, but the alternative is even worse. Nice to hear from you Ruth!
The moment of truth: when you hear warnings about danger to “the elderly and vulnerable” and you realise they mean you. Now I see everyone without a face mask as a potential serial killer.
Yes! The first information when they said “Citizens over the age of 60 are most at risk” I looked at the Spousal Unit and said, “Hey, I think that’s us now.”
At least, all the bloggers can still remain socially close and physically distant at the same time.
Bloggers are uniquely immune. How are things where you are in Australia, Gary?
Great pictures.
I know what you mean about looking at a picture, wondering, “who is that old person,” and realizing it’s me. 🙂
Continue to be young. Don’t worry about the germs — that’s how our bodies continue to build immunity. Be you.
You’re right. Our mothers always said “You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die”. Closely followed by “Go play outside – it’s a beautiful day!”