In this unprecedented time there are plenty of uncomfortable jokes to go around. It’s interesting to watch people turn to humor when nothing is certain. It reminds me of people that laugh at inappropriate times but are unable to help themselves. We must keep an air of lightness or we will be bawling balls of sniveling helplessness.
I relocated to my sister Sally’s about a week ago before the band on non-essential moving about was initiated. Fortunately we have 2 acres, 4 dogs, 1 cat and a lot of projects and spring cleaning to be done. One of our projects is to go through my Mother’s photo albums, a bitter-sweet project at best.
Only one week in we are becoming reflective. Thinking about our parents and the way we were raised. I recently posted on Facebook pictures of a home in Midland that my parents built around 1960. Sally and I were looking at those pictures and I asked where my nursery was as I was born during the time we lived at this house. She pointed it out and told me it was the library. I have faint memories of dark wooden bookshelf and dark red carpet; she confirmed this was correct. She noted that brother Scott’s and her bedrooms were located on the front of the house with views strictly facing that direction. She recalled climbing a bookcase to a tiny porthole where she and Scott would watch the parties. She said the house was specifically designed so that kids were in a separate area of the house with no view of the events. Reference movie: The Help.
My parents were not bad people and at the time I don’t think they were that unusual in their “kids speak when spoken too” attitude but it sure does make for semi- well adjusted adults. I still long for past camping trips and long conversations about the future but they always were and remain completely theoretical.
Don’t get me wrong, we have all done well in our lives. Scott particularly chose what I refer to as the “gold watch” route. Now he lives with Stacy in an ideal location, healthy and retired, enjoying life. Meanwhile, Sally and I chose the entrepreneurial way. Apparently we enjoy struggling and constantly relying on creativity and the ability to work and rework and rework again when things do not go smoothly.
This is one of those times. For the first time in the last (and very difficult) five years I had a full calendar of work for 2020. Embarking on new projects all the way around including student travel (something I thought I would never do) and being a guest speaker aboard American Cruise Lines. Remaking myself once again into an historian on various topics and as always an entertainer. I hunger for learning and experiencing new ways of life and I am hopeful that this screeching halt of tourism is just a bump in the road.
Just a little note for those of you bored enough to read my ramblings and those of you that cannot believe you watched the entire Netflix series “Tiger King”. May your brains rest in peace.
Blessings! Polly