2020 Vision

“I can see clearly now, the sane is gone…”

And this is 20/20. In my best Barbara Walters.

Supposedly, according to Professor Google, the meaning of 2020 is “vision of normal sharpness.”

I beg to differ.

Ain’t nothing sharp about it, y’all. Ain’t nothing normal, either. 2020 that is.

WHAT HAS EVEN HAPPENED HERE? Right before our very eyes?

<Allow me to interject here that I’m only tackling one concept of the year in this here blog, because the other things I’m leaving for my book– a bit more time will be necessary to process this alternate universe we are all currently attempting to navigate, so hear me clear: this little essay isn’t glossing over reality nor ignoring other enormous issues that are current.>

My girlfriends and I had a little pow wow the other evening. We were missing each other’s company (that a text thread just doesn’t fill) and each other’s faces too. We needed to see each other. Breathe the same air, you know. (Stifle your gasp. I heard it.) We needed our people. Heart beating, respirating, smiling people.

We talked. A lot. Mostly about the “Big C,” which needs no explanation if you are living in 2020. Abnormal, insensible 2020.

Most of the discussion centered around what life is looking like and what it might and what it doesn’t. The predictability of most of what is life really isn’t anymore. Man, did I take that for granted. The shallowness, smallness of myself…What a shift. From: What’s middle school going to be like? How are y’all handling girl drama? Did you hear so and so was moving? Can the kids wear such and such to school? to What will school even look like? How are y’all handling the mask drama? Did you hear so and so has the Rona? Can the kids wear masks that color coordinate with their new back to school clothes? (Heh-I’m still me, y’all.)

Of course motherhood has its unique challenges, especially in today’s world. One of the mamas currently has a sick child (not that kind of sick, because she was tested–so don’t worry that her mama was out with us). However, prior to the child’s testing, this mama was being super vigilant, taking all precautions– thermometer in one hand, Lysol in the other, keeping that baby away from others. As she was awoken from her slumber one night to check on her daughter, she grabbed her thermometer and slapped on a mask before entering the child’s room and risk being exposed. It didn’t dawn on her ’til she’d gotten a few good huffs under the cloth cover before the terror of the thought that said daughter had been wearing that exact same mask earlier that day. THIS SHOULDN’T BE A THING, Y’ALL. But dang, we got a good laugh out of the absurdity of this new abnormal way we are living. And that she didn’t have the “Big C.”

We talked about the way Corona was running rampant through our community, especially our young kids, and I kid you not, cell phones were ding ding dinging alerts of another and another and still another testing positive for COVID interrupting our chatting and providing more fodder. One of the gals said, “It’s like Corona is the modern day Scarlet Letter!” and boy, that’s an accurate statement if I’ve ever heard one! We all howled but it’s so true: wagging tongues all over town and in some instances shade being thrown from people about other people who have had it or have it and have been in the vicinity of others… and it sort of makes this whole thing even sadder. Whether or not you or your child or whomever is wearing a mask or not, washing hands appropriately or not, being social or not, distancing or not, quarantining or not, is not really any body’s business but your own (and I think Tabitha Brown would agree with me about it being “your business” and if you don’t know her yet, start googling. She’s been an amazing quarantine distraction!). I think the most of us are trying our best to not get others sick or get sick ourselves, but you can think I’m naive. That won’t be the first or last time, either. I do believe most people are trying, and I also believe that you must do what’s best for yourself and your people. And surprise, surprise, those scenarios are all going to look different because we are, well, DIFFERENT. (And then also, we all have opinions and you know what “they” say about those…)

Please don’t read this as insensitivity to this virus nor the loss of life. (I shudder to think if anyone sees this that way.) I know it is is horrible. I know it has taken lives. I know there is no cure. I know the anxiousness and uncertainty and all those yucky emotions are there and real as I’m a carrier myself (of those feelings–not the rona!).

I also know we don’t know the whole truth. This thing is unfolding before our very eyes and we are bombarded with this official that and that official this and I’ll be darned if our heads aren’t left spinning. Gleaning the whole truth and nothing but the truth is like finding a pearl in an oyster. Gotta crack a whole lotta shells and mow through a mess of mucus before we can find a little worthwhile nugget. So, in the meanwhile, I’m going to do the very best I can with what little I have, and I think most people are trying to, too.

Let’s be kind to each other. Give grace like we undeservingly receive it. Even if we think the ideas of others are ridiculous and their face masks don’t match their outfits …

Anybody want to start a yard sign rental company that places big, red C’s in yards for 14 days? No?

Oh, 2020. We’ve got to work on that definition…