Day #250 Writing Through COVID-19: Pandemic Perks

250 days. That's eight months and five days now we have been slogging through COVID-19. 

This morning I parked in the school lot, then leaned over to grab my school bag. I somehow smashed my lip on my steering wheel. I tasted blood on my tongue and knew my lip was swelling. My first thought? Well, no one will see my fat lip behind my mask!

Who says there aren't perks to this pandemic?

1) Masks hide facial imperfections. They also filter coffee breath.

2) Who knew? I really don't need to stop by the grocery store five times a week.

3) Those people who stand awkwardly close in conversations? I can now demand some distance in the name of health.

4) I bought the smallest, cheapest Thanksgiving turkey in 35 years. Cha-ching.

5) In eight months, I've put barely 3000 miles on the car. Cha-ching.

6) Scrubs are cheaper than dresses. More cha-ching.

7) I have nowhere to go, so no plane tickets, no hotel stays, no restaurants. Cha-cha-ching. (Whimpers.)

8) I got to watch the high school musical from the comfort of my couch.

9) I'm cutting myself slack, reminding myself to be gentle and forgiving in these hard times. Maybe this self-grace should be the norm. 

10) Living in COVID narrows the viewfinder. It separates the wheat from the chaff, and there was a lot of pre-COVID chaff.

Many of the past 250 days have weighed on us like a heavy burden, forcing us to learn new ways to simply get from sunup to sundown. We are all so tired of this. We are all so BORED with the reality of an uncontrolled pandemic. 

Hang in there. Vaccines are on the horizon. I tell myself that I might get to meet Wolf in person as he turns one in the summer. 

In the meantime, enjoy the perks.

Enough.
Be well.
Write.

Allison

It's springtime in New Zealand!