Let the Fanfare Begin
Do you remember when you were young and someone asked you how old you were? And you’d square your shoulders and tell them your age plus a half or three quarters or even larger fraction according to how much math had been imparted to your brain. Then somewhere mid-thirties or forties that all started changing. I, for one, reversed the numbers to reflect a smaller number. 41 became 14, 52 became 25. At one point that became useless. Face it. When that happens you have reached maturity. Scratch that, You’re old. Fantastic. I was hiding from my actual age the whole time I’ve been alive. Never happy with the moment wanting to be older or younger. I would have loved to be 33 forever. Mature enough to make my own decisions and young enough to do everything I ever wanted to do. At that age, I could even play in the park without feeling silly as my kids needed the accompanying adult on the slide and the swings. Then I could enjoy a drink and pretend to be a full adult.
Well, here I am at 07 and thinking maybe I should be the fan of the half or three-quarter again. Maybe if the world didn’t have a pandemic and other apocalyptic things like murder wasps, I wouldn’t embrace this. But for those of us with birthdays in December, which has never been a great month for those who were born under its cold, crazy, Christmasy times, the fact may be that many of us might not be here for our birthdays. If and when we do, all the better to show we fancy every moment of life.
So today I attended a half birthday Zoom party. There were elements of fantasy as this was with a cosplay bunch of friends. I could have sworn one of the ladies had elf ears. Anyway, I thought this idea was fun and look forward to my half birthday in a few days. We have life. Let’s celebrate it. even if only on Zoom with friends and family. It may be we are closer to loved ones now than ever before as we need to keep in touch often. Wouldn’t it be great if we could measure our lives in Love? Is Rent playing in my head again? Let me share the earworm. (One of my favorite songs of all time!)
Each second should have always been this precious. We should have never put aside our elders, how quickly we become one! As we try to save lives let’s make sure to pull it in and let it sit with us. Before COVID19 a car accident or cancer could rob us of a loved one but it was so seldom that we didn’t bring it in until it was too late. We’ve been given a bit of a gift to look at saving and loving our lives and loving the lives of others.
Half-Birthday? I’m a fan. I might even enjoy a three-quarter Birthday! Hey, remember being a newlywed? We got so sappy! Two-week anniversaries were fun! Let’s get back to that kind of excitement. Life is a gift. We can still be careful and distance and hand-wash, AND love life!
Per Linda:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “fan.” Use it by itself or find a word that starts or ends with it. Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
#WDIIA
Well, I’m happy for you, and glad you got to zoom with your friends. I may get criticized for my behavior during the so-called pandemic, but I could not let it stop me from seeing my Dad, he needs me too much. I can’t depend on anyone else to care for him like me, and my brother was sequestered that first couple of weeks. So for me, life has been as normal as I could make it except for not being able to go out to eat until the places opened up again. My husband went to work, as did two of my three sons. We are all fine, even my brother was fine, but didn’t want to take a chance and make my 85 year old dad sick. They had us all scared for a few days, but then we got over it and carried on as usual. We feel like masks are useless and silly, don’t wear em, we are all fine. Everyone we’ve been in contact with is fine. I’ve never seen anything take over a country the way this thing has. And now there are the riots. The chaos. I still feel like it’s all an agenda to get rid of Trump, and I for one, am not falling for it. I understand if you feel you need to stay sequestered. I would feel horrible if you came out and got sick, but where do you draw the line and say enough is enough? That’s my thing, we are supposed to trust the very people that have been lying to us this whole time to tell us when it’s safe to go out again? Just mho, but not me. The plus side to this is people realizing they can get just about anything they need online, or delivered…even alcohol if you so desire. We did it a few times until the places opened back up. Maybe we are lucky, maybe we are blessed. Either way, I’m ok and I hope you are too and can get out soon! (Sorry for the long rant! )
I do not think there are lies with the disease. I think they do not know. The biggest reason to be in shutdown is to keep others, not ourselves from getting what we my carry. It was to keep the medical system from being overwhelmed. They still may very well get overwhelmed by the Memorial Day gatherings and the protests. There has already been an uptake in the cases. Just because you and yours look and feel fine, and God bless you for your great immune system! There still may be those who you don’t know or hang out with that may be catching from you. The masks show your care for others. Not the other way around. I don’t go out much anyway. I have been in situations where everyone around me got sick and I didn’t. That year at work they called me the outbreak monkey. We laughed about it but there have been other times I seemed to just get a fibro flare but no fever or any other symptoms of a flu or cold going around. So because of that, and who can tell if the droplets are from my allergies or C19, I will wear a mask when I do go get yarn or mail this week. What seems like lies is that this is a new disease. The scientists are still learning. Who knows maybe in the long run intermingling will bring us a healthier immune system. But if we can not overwhelm the medical teams by catching it all at once, we may save a few lives in the process. That’s my stand. I do remember my mom not letting us swim in lakes or streams that had green algae. She was sure we would get polio. Then there were shots, then sugar cubes, then drops. Not many get that disease because the scientist found answers. Unfortunately, trial and error is how the answers are found, along with sharing information. I do hope you and your family can stay healthy. Especially your dad. There are wonderful, encouraging stories of 100-year-olds catching and recovering from the virus. and children and young adults who die. Surely a healthy immune system helps and underlying weaknesses kills. But Amazon and other ways to get the shopping done, can help us all find a way not to overexpose ourselves or others or the medical staff. Again, how I feel. I spend my early life sick. Maybe why I was outbreak monkey? Or is it luck? Or just in general social anxiety???? Hugs to you and yours!
Thanks, and to you as well! Thanks for letting me rant, I probably have a bad attitude about it all, but I think I’m just overwhelmed. I must be feeling my age because I don’t like all these changes, I want life to just go back to normal, but better, lol. You have a good night and stay well! 😊🤗
I so get it. I feel like breaking chains and letting loose. Then I have to laugh at myself. My body won’t run a marathon any time soon. If I had parents to take care of, my brain would be screaming from the stress of keeping them safe. Hugs my friend.