Living With Consequences

 

 

Hello!

How are you all doing? We managed to get our vaccines yesterday. Today we are paying the consequences. After listening to news reports as, different dignitaries around the country are taking the Covid 19 vaccine, I find that the pain in the shoulder is indeed worse than for a flue shot, and taking longer for me to get over. I am counting the days. My husband doesn’t seem to be as susceptible. The technician said I had really thick skin, and my husband’s is quite thin. What are the consequences? I stay warmer than he does. That little layer of fat makes good insulation. And, I survive the cat jumping into my arms better that he does. Those big black claws leave mighty black bruises in thin skin!

Today I got an email from Ancestry.com with an obituary for my Aunt Inez. I never knew her. My father was five years old when Inez was born, right in the middle of the 1919 flu epidemic. It is interesting to see how many things are the same in the flue epidemic and the current one. For example, many people didn’t think the families in 1919 wore masks, but I have and old picture of my mother’s cousins wearing masks as children. As a consequence of that flue epidemic, my grandmother had to give birth to Inez in quarantine with the midwife outside the window.

Another consequence of having the Covid 19 vaccine, is knowing that in another month I will feel more comfortable leaving the house, and maybe seeing my kids again. I feel like I’ve been held hostage by nanobots, creatures so small they are invisible to the naked eye. I hope you are doing well, staying healthy and staying sane. What have you done to stay sane in the last year? I’ve been writing.

One of my friends in Virginia gave me her ten favorite words to write a poem for her. This is the poem. We had been talking about things we should edit from our lives. What would be the consequence of eliminating some of our faults?

 

Brutal Editing

There is too much stuff
Cluttering my life—
Angry Thoughts,
Words I’ve yelled and wish I could
Take back
Deeds I’ve left undone.
I need to do some brutal editing
And leave some room for sunshine.