How Are You Passing the Time at Home Right Now?
Some of us feel a pang of guilt for having taken for granted the important people that keep our communities humming — the teachers, the day care providers, the health care workers, the first responders, the grocery store cashiers, the food service workers — and vow to never miss a chance to show appreciation for these people when things return to some semblance of normalcy.
And while Zoom and FaceTime have become vital portals for work meetings and check-ins with family members, I’ve also heard about people hosting virtual cocktail hours and dinner parties with friends online. Anything to stay sane, to feel normal, to remain hopeful.
My son taught me how to play the Fortnite video game, something I never thought I would have an interest in learning, and we’ve had some wonderful times playing together online with his friends and mine. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched Frozen 2 with my daughter. I got my finger calluses back from playing guitar again, and have even dusted off that novel I started all those years ago. (Hey, if Shakespeare could write Macbeth and King Lear under quarantine, I can pretend to work on a novel.) And I’ve come to relish my now nightly phone calls with my mother to share recipes and hear which stores in her area are still out of toilet paper.