About That Pandemic

I wish I could say profound things about…well, anything lately. Do you ever feel like you’re in a crowded room with a lot of very smart people? All so clever, well-read, well-dressed. All of whom can speak so powerfully, so eloquently about the issue of the day, the month, the year. Black lives, the pandemic, women’s bodies. They have children, maybe, they know all about vaccine rates and trials. There’s that one women using words you can’t even understand to hold forth on Portland’s autonomous zone. And, everyone else is adding insights and nuance and there you are. You don’t have the words, probably, or maybe your words have already been said. You don’t have a contribution that makes a difference or that isn’t without flaws and holes. I’m that person and I’ve been choked for words for a year.

Now is probably the time to say that the pandemic has done a number on us, on me. It’s obvious, right? A year of silence both in written word and, to be honest, spoken words. But, it hasn’t been bleak inside our walls. That makes it even harder to talk about in Polite Company. There are problems. I’ve lost 25 pounds and gained it back (and then some). My daughter homeschooled and then wore a mask through an entire school year and, let’s face it, will do so for another year. She had one playdate. It was terrifying. My wife hasn’t played shows, just started practicing recently, only to see the probable end of practices coming down the Delta path. There has been isolation, mentally and physically. But, and here’s the Polite Company part which, Dear Reader, you are not, there have been some good things that outweigh the rest.

I hadn’t had a migraine until this week, a throwing up, horrendous, kill me now, migraine. This week, the week before I go back to work in the office. I know you know this isn’t a coincidence. I’ve been at peace, more calm, less stressed, slept better, woke up happier, you know, all the things you aspire to when you’re re-evaluating life, since I’ve been working at home. Now? I’m crying in the shower, throwing up in the toilet, and picking up habits I thought I’d left behind. I return to the office on Monday and even typing that makes my heart beat faster.

I’d love to keep this feeling. Having my wife and daughter close, with the same salary, in the same town, without having to work in an office. It seems like a tall order though, especially given the freedom my job typically holds (new boss, some questions). I’ll be working two days a week from home (for now) and I’m holding on to that like the proverbial drowning person. I feel like I can’t get any air and I’m sinking.

So if I’m without anything to say, you know why. I’m an indifferent texter or I’d tell you to text me. Even you, who still thinks you are Polite Company. I’m usually great with anonymous penpals, not so great with anything else, lately. I hope you can forgive me.

The State of Things

I’m finding it harder than usual to write anything I’d want to read, let alone you’d want to read. I suppose I’m also finding it hard to say anything either. All my energy goes to work and trying to reopen a large university library system. When it’s done for the moment, and it’s only ever a moment, not an hour or a day, there’s always something, I find that I don’t have brain space to string together a meaningful sentence. For instance, I have incorrectly typed every other word in the paragraph. It’s slow going friends.

We are still waiting on final confirmation from RR’s school that she will be going back at all. We’re hopeful for the modified one week on/one week off schedule they surveyed us about but as the city schools close around us, I’m increasingly worried about that precious week at school. Her entire social life this spring was through facetime and texts. She celebrated her birthday with a socially distanced visit from a friend. This summer we put her in small fully masked 5 person camps off and on. This week we are braving a swim camp that is half masked, half cordoned off swim time. The campers get their own square to swim in. It is still terrifying. Misspelled word count: 15.

Once we visited friends in the northern part of the state, which has a higher virus percentage than we do and we’re about to omg go to the beach in North Carolina for a few days. I’m concerned but I am also burnt out and so, mask bearing and flip flop wearing, we’re going. Maybe it’s the librarian in me, but I feel the need to document all of this. I hope you are doing the same, though oral stories to friends and family, through your own journaling, through photographs and memorabilia. I certainly have a variety of masks that mark each stage of the pandemic. From the early stitched and ill-fitting to the bendy nose area and high tech fabric ones. Even the Disney ones from the trip we couldn’t take that are the thickness and breathability of those large white old-school baby diapers. They are a chronicle in themselves. Misspelled words (including this one): 10.

And so, in this 22nd week of working from home, we are slowly opening up our lives. I hope it’s for the better or the same, but not worse. And, at last, not a single misspelled word.

More Alone

Not too long ago, I complained I was never alone. Now I’m going to be alone in a way I didn’t want to be. On Friday, we will put our beloved dog to sleep. His body can’t hold him up any longer.

It’s heart-breaking to see a dog continue whose body has failed but whose mind is fairly intact. I find myself dissolving at the most unexpected moments and I can’t picture life without him. Why does this seem worse than when my father died?

There’s so much else going on in the world and in my personal life right now. Murders, calls to defund the police, marches, protests, job security, death, uncertainty over absolutely everything. I don’t want to say goodbye to my best friend.

Fooling Around

You guys, it’s a good thing I like my family. I can’t imagine the hardship of being socially distanced with people I don’t particularly care for. This weekend we saw a bunch of college kids hugging and laughing in a parking lot, clearly meeting up after not having seen one another in a while. My first thought was, THAT is not social distancing. My second was, I bet they are starved for companionship after being in classes all spring and then being suddenly isolated with who knows what kind of roommate. Insert judgy brain: DUDES, YOU ARE GETTING US ALL SICK WITH YOUR LONELINESS.

It’s true though, being shut in at all is hard, it must be worse to be shut-in with people for whom you already needed coping strategies or you flat out dislike or even folks who you like a whole lot in small doses. Let’s throw in a kid for good measure. We have a particularly good kid but she’s fond of us and is taking this opportunity to be as close to us as possible (when she isn’t immersing herself in sanctioned youtube videos and games). The closeness is sometimes overwhelming. In fact, I spent at least two hours outside Sunday just to hear my own thoughts for awhile.

My own thoughts, apparently, miss my wife – you know, the wifely part – a whole lot. It feels like there’s always a jealous audience (cue RR) for short moments of connection. It feels like longer moments to fool around are impossible. To add to it, my wife and I handle grief in very different ways. And if this pandemic is grief worthy (which more than one piece proclaims it is) then my wife is never going to be in the mood. Like, never.

I am trying to be respectful of that. I am trying to figure out how to get my own needs met in this situation. I am despairing that this is predicted to go on into the summer. I absolutely cannot think about having to do this again in the fall or even having it extend all summer. I feel particularly bad that I’m thinking of myself when my wife is clearly thinking of more important things, like dying and isolation. Let’s assume for a minute she has the brain space to read this. This is not a giant plea for her to be different or to feel bad or to cater to me in some way. Really.

There’s not an end to this post. Kind of like the pandemic itself. I hope I’m not alone in this. But I know being overloaded with companionship doesn’t necessarily lead to good times. So here I’ll sit, knowing that things will change, eventually. What a dreary closing paragraph! Kind of like everything, right?

Grandparents

I found myself bothered the other day. Bothered because I was whining (in my head), and muttering (silently) about how it isn’t fair. Both things that bother me. I really don’t like hearing it’s not fair, especially when it’s said with a high pitched whine which, have you ever heard a sentence so likely to be whined? It’s not fair that we’re out of grandparents.

Here I am, surrounded by kids accompanied by fit grands, ones that are able and willing to take the kids to roller skate or gymnastics. Who take the kids out for dinner and ice cream. Who are generally present in their lives. Who appear to be putting the kids first without having made the day about themselves. So now you can see where I’m going with this.

We’re not totally out of grandparents, we still have one – my mother. But I think it’s well established that she’s not up to doing any of the above. Especially the bit about putting RR first. RR never knew Debra’s father although time has shined up his memory for all of us. He was probably the most fit to be a grandfather, even though he would have been quite elderly. Then we lost Debra’s mother, who would have been great at hanging out with RR at home but wouldn’t have been up to excursions or stepping in to help out if needed. My father followed her – the first grandparent RR really got to know before losing. Still, his last two years were filled with cancer and she was so little. And now we’re left with one. And since she moved away and isn’t the best communicator (especially with me) we’re out of grandparents altogether.

I do sound like I’m whining, I know. It feels like the only place where it’s halfway acceptable. It’s not fair. I’d like a grandparent like the ones I see holding hands with their grandkids. Just one would be okay.

Marriage is Hard

Believe me, when my wife read that title she was a bit put out. Well, I assume. It’s not as though this is new information though.

You see, the truth is hard. She knows it. I know it. You know it, dear reader. My wife and have a strong relationship. I often feel lucky knowing how in love she is with me and I with her. Not that love is the sole indicator of strength. It’s commonalities, compassion, shared experiences. We’ve known each other since 1998. Did you see that? Twenty years. We’ve been married less than that, of course. It took us awhile to untangle the small knots and webs tying us to everything but each other. I was elated when we moved in together and over the moon when we got married. We have so much fun together and always have. We adventure, she and I, and it’s delightful.

Now I’m not blaming our daughter. Or where we live. Or what we do. But somewhere, somehow, in the last several years the solid foundation we put up at the beginning began to get in our way. It became hard to do the things we used to love to do and then we started to bicker. I assume every couple argues now and again. We have a particularly famous disagreement titled Why Did You Drive This Direction? and are long time participants in the How Do You Not Remember That? siege. I’m a fan of the Exasperated Sigh and she is well acquainted with Hot Face resulting from sudden (and fleeting) anger.

We’re not supposed to use that word, right? Angry? It’s not a word that you want to hitch to a happy marriage. I think that’s unreasonable, by the way. Everyone gets angry. It’s how you handle it that makes, or breaks, the marriage. It isn’t breaking ours. The resentment, the lack of communication, the disconnects – that’s what’s corroding all those careful, pretty, connections between us.

Neither one of us are interested in letting go, giving up, or walking out. Instead we headed to a counselor’s couch to talk about really super awkward things, like sex. You guys, this shit is not easy. I don’t have a roadmap. I never watched my own parents go through this. The only outcome I’m interested in is the one that keeps our bond as strong as it ever was. Is there any point then in counseling, if neither of us are giving up no matter what?

Something seems to be working. It’s hard, feeling like there’s no one to talk to. I thought I’d tell you though, I think it’s working. I think it’ll be just fine.

 

Silver Linings: Dad’s Dead But Now He’s Not a Jerk

My dad has been on my mind lately. He loved this song. Or, this was his favorite weather. Worse, dad would have laughed so hard at that one. It goes on, as you can imagine. Happy memories all. I have to reach, now, to grab the things that bothered me. The days when he vehemently disagreed with my political lean and railed about the president are gone. I’d like to think that he wouldn’t have cared for this particular president either. I’ve recast him as an equal opportunity critic. His racist and sexist jokes would have been particularly tone deaf these days (not that they were ever acceptable). I’ve rewritten his jokes to tell me more about the men he worked with, the soldiers, fellow mechanics, and snow plow drivers. His blue collar, boot-strap life didn’t understand the rarefied air of diplomacy or academia.

I rub like smooth rocks all the things I learned in his final year, months, days. I learned that he was soft inside. As gentle as his hands were rough. I’ve thought about the jellybeans he munched the final week. My efforts to find a favorite candy bar. The conversation the nurse and I had about getting him out to smoke one last time. It took me several precious days to figure out that was what he was waiting for. For my brother-in-law, the rough and rugged one whose insides reflect my dad’s outside, to bring him those special small cigars. By the time I solved the puzzle, he couldn’t have gotten into the wheelchair.

But that’s not what I’m thinking about when my breath hitches on the way to work. Or as I sit here typing, crying, for the first time in awhile. I’m thinking about how he chuckled when he found a fun new Halloween toy and the time he spent rigging a loudspeaker and mic to frighten 1980s trick-or-treaters. I’m thinking about eating pie with him in the back bedroom a couple of Thanksgivings ago, how he happily twitched his feet like his father, savored his pie like his mother, and hid from guests like his daughter. I’m thinking about how he would have tsked at the leaves for not changing on schedule and how he’d deeply enjoy the extra time watching the game instead of raking.

So yes, I’m crying. I wish I wasn’t. But I’m happy because all the sour, sticky, smudged parts of him have been buffed shiny and clean. I miss him terribly but I’ll take what I can get.

Make a Decision

You know, I’m a competent professional. Part of my work is to make decisions, forecast the future, design plans that will move us forward into new places, and sprinkle the whole thing with innovative ideas. I’m good at it and I like doing it. I’m not a waffler, although at home I’m deliberate; at work I make decisions relatively quickly, accepting that if there are mistakes we can right them the second or third time. That would be a problem in fields where decisions are exceptionally costly or life-saving, but I work at a library, folks, none of my decisions are going to be disasters.

My wife likes to consider all of the possible options before settling on a decision. We’re incompatible this way (at home, I’m not always interested in options) but we are very compatible in that the time I prefer to make a decision (again, at home) is pretty close to the time she needs to consider all of the options. I like to think of it this way – she will lay out a range of options and then I can make a quick decision after having taken awhile to consider them all and we’ll end up landing in about the same place. You might recall that we had paint samples on our bedroom wall for a year.

My mother wants me to make instant decisions about things that are important to her. And then she wants me to do those things right then and there. Under duress, I can usually accommodate one preference, but not the other. For example, she wanted to know if I would take a lovely fountain and a fleet of end tables so that she didn’t need to move them. I said I would on the spot but they will certainly hang out in my basement until I’ve had time to consider where I’ll put them. This will take awhile, my brain space is occupied by other things, and it bothers me not at all that we don’t know where we’ll put them yet (or ever).

It agitates her that I sit on things past the .15 seconds she has provided for a decision. What dates am I thinking of traveling? Where am I planning to go? What do I think I’ll do when I get there? If there’s not a plane ticket, hotels, or a friend’s couch involved, those decisions may well come once I arrive. When we went to Disneyworld, I bent my entire will toward planning out the trip (although leaving plenty of flexibility) but this is not my regular approach. I head somewhere down the middle but closer to the last minute.

For example, earlier this month Debra and I decided that we might go away for the weekend. Two weeks prior, we decided on a location. A week prior, we made a hotel reservation. Three or four days prior, we decided what we’d do when we got there and we decided when to leave about 15 minutes before we got in the car. Of course, this is for a relatively local vacation. I don’t consider most of that last minute but I watched my mother practically tremble with agitation and judgement as we waltzed through this process.

Today I’m spending the afternoon with her wrapping up the tail end of her packing. I am well aware that she will expect me to make more split decisions about what I want to take and leave. I’d prefer to decide later once I’ve brought it home. I’m not asking her to delay any moving things and my decision will have no impact at all on her. I just want the chance to consider the greater picture and, if she behaves as she usually does, this is going to drive her insane. I’m not feeling particularly accommodating today. I’m trying not to think of this as a looming disaster.

I accept that there’s a happy medium here and that the stress she’s under doesn’t give her the flexibility to move outside of her comfort zone. The impending conflict is completely within my control. Clearly, the teenager in me is trying to act out – I could make decisions quickly, I just don’t want to. If I can just get that cantankerous 15-yr-old to cool her jets, I might be able to make it through this.

 

A Smaller Loss

I don’t know if there’s a post marking the arrival of my parents and the subsequent overhaul of life. I looked but didn’t try too hard which I think is a good summary of how I feel about the last four years. When we suggested they consider this state over their current one and over the two inhabited by my sisters, we did so partly for their sake (better medical care! lower property taxes! four seasons!) and partly for RR’s, who otherwise would have, at best, annual contact with her only set of grandparents. It was not for my sake. I think that much is clear.

We had dinner with them, and then my mom alone, every Sunday. Our lives changed in dozens of small ways and some very significant ones. We have new electricity in the basement and new plumbing in one bathroom but the lights are crooked and the silicone lining the sink is shifty at best. Weekend relaxation ended at 3pm but we had multiple Sundays on a porch, in the fall air, with the scent of apple pie and pot roast wafting through the house. I got to spend the last two years of my father’s life with him and that’s unquantifiable. There are no more sentences for that because I can’t do it justice.

We were right that the medical care would be important. The property taxes didn’t turn out to be lower. And, in the end, winter is why my mother is moving away. That’s the kind reason, the one she drags out for friends. It’s so cold, she says, and my other daughter is in Arizona. That’s true. It’s the family she’s spent the least amount of time with and the daughter she probably likes the best. Although, to be fair to my other sister, it’s just me she doesn’t click with. But mostly, here is where my dad died. I don’t think she can get away fast enough.

As we come up on the moving date, I’m parts sad for RR and part happy for Debra and I. This is going to reduce stressful conversations and increase weekend opportunities. I’ll be able to take a deep breath. We won’t have to move a tv, or bring over supper, or change plans for anyone but us. She’ll be happier on the other side of the country. To be honest, I also could use a break from the constant reminder that my dad is gone. In the end, RR seems to be the only casualty. It’s (hopefully) the final loss in two years of losses. And just think, now we have an excuse to vacation in Arizona again!

 

Anxiety is the Worst

I wouldn’t say it’s crippling anxiety, but it’s definitely dragging one useless foot anxiety. I emailed the coaches for my daughter’s probably swim team today. I have some baggage with that, having started to swim early with what I recognize now as limping but not yet cane-worthy anxiety. I remember going into the building by myself at five, never really making friends, never being fast enough for the coaches but too fast to be well-liked, and knowing I just had to make it through or my mother would be disappointed and angry. Perhaps my five-year-old self has blown this out of proportion. Maybe anxiety didn’t start punching me in the gut until I was eight. Maybe I wasn’t an outsider right away. Maybe the coaches didn’t loom quite so large, didn’t criticize quite so much. It doesn’t matter, not really. That anxiety stayed with me right through high school and while I eventually had plenty of friends and became a team captain, an assistant coach, and a lifeguard, I still feel like I’ll throw up every time I see a lane line, block, or the black lines marking the path on the bottom of the pool.

On a smaller level, I’m gripped with sick fear each time I’m supposed to be some place where talking to a lot of other people about everyday things is expected. Can you believe I spent ten years attending parties with foreign dignitaries? No, I can’t either. I’m well-liked, I’m adept at small talk, I connect with others easily, I’m a strong public speaker. In other words, you wouldn’t know that inside I feel like I’m banging on the walls to get out trying to stay clear of the black whirlpool of panic whenever I’m supposed to be in a group with more than two others. Even one person, on an occasional basis, has the capacity to nearly paralyze me although I sometimes surprise myself with a glimpse of the me who used to attend group gatherings with only mild trepidation.

It doesn’t stop me from my professional obligations, mostly. I don’t usually attend “fun” gatherings because for me they are torture. I do go to conferences and meetings and trainings and workshops confidently with a smile because it’s the expectation and I’m particularly good at drowning out the screaming in order to be professional. Still, there are only so many times you can beg off because you aren’t feeling well or have a family requirement. And it does prevent me from doing things I might enjoy if only I could make it past myself.

I left a promising career.
I left a monthly gathering of friends and acquaintances.
I haven’t attended team building parties with my staff.
I’ve made excuses not to attend big work gatherings.
I’ve skipped live music, parades, block parties, and festivals.
I’ve put off visits with friends and family.
I didn’t take my daughter to swim team kick-off. I lied to my kid. She didn’t meet the coach. She didn’t buy a suit. She didn’t meet any other kids.

It’s this last one I’m ashamed of. Sure, she can register at anytime and she’ll get to do all of those things at practice. But I read the handbook and there is a series of “fun” events (not to mention volunteering at meets) throughout the summer. Add this to the “fun” events the girl scout troop has and I am sitting here typing and struggling to breathe. I don’t want my daughter to see this. I don’t want to pass it on in any way. But I don’t want to do this and I can’t ask my wife to do everything.

Yes, I could see someone. I could breathe deep and exercise and meditate. I’d rather have a pill to make it stop. I’d rather be a different person. But here I am and I have a few more decades to grit my teeth and endure.

There is no good last sentence here.