Stealing Kisses from the Leperous Faces

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At some point – – whether it’s next month or next year, or even later – – everyday life will start to take on a more normal appearance. The past three months have been remarkably strange and unprecedented. I was reflecting this morning on what it will be like will the world isn’t obsessed with a very specific virus anymore and gets to about 90% normalcy again (since, believe me, it’ll never be 100%, at least not for years).

Some of the things I look forward to:

  • Liberty – As much as I love my home, I really am not into being an inmate of this minimum security detention facility. I want to go to the grocery store whenever I like. I want to grab a chai whenever I like. I’d like to have a Blue Bottle and write a post while my car charges. As it is now, we’re in lockdown, and it’s getting just a little old.
  • Faces – In those instances I do get to go out, it’s like strolling through a surgical ward. Everyone has their masks on (as they should) and life just seems ridiculous. We’ve all become accustomed to it very rapidly, but Good Lord, it’s kind of comic when you step back and look at all of us. It will be nice to see unadorned faces once again.
  • Haircuts – All my life, I’ve liked neat, short hair. Now I’m starting to feel like Phil Spector.
  • Abundance – One word: flour. I never thought that a bag of flour would be such a precious commodity. I’ve been to many grocery stores multiple times during this quarantine, and the only flour out there is the expensive weird-ass gluten-free stuff that I’d never buy in the first place. Chickpea flour? Cassava flour? Coconut flour? No, damn it, just a big old five pound bag of white King Arthur, if you please.

Of course, there are also some things I will miss.

  • Mah Boy – I am a ridiculously sentimental person, and seeing my oldest child head off to school (albeit just a mile away) wasn’t easy. It’s so nice to have him home and see him every day. It’ll be hard to say good-bye another time.
  • Lack of Travel – My family spends tens of thousands of bucks on air travel, hotels, cabs, and all other associated expenses due to fencing-related travel. These past few months, I haven’t missed the expense, the trouble, and the hours sitting in plane seats. So I’ve really enjoyed not ever going to the airport.
  • Empty Roads – Any time of the day, morning, noon, or night, I can go to any road and expect to breeze right through. The distinct lack of humans is a joy.
  • Cool Dystopian Adventure – I’m the kind of kid who got excited when a huge hurricane was heading toward my home in Louisiana. I found the uncertainty and danger to be exhilarating. Yes, these have been strange and tragic times, but also quite mesmerizing.

Of course, there’s one thing that left the scene a month ago which I miss more than anything else, and I really wish it would come back.

plun