Quarantining in Quarantine
Time in my hot tub is one of my life’s simple (and safe!) joys.
When you’re already avoiding people because of the pandemic but you double down on your efforts so you can go play (responsibly) with your friends.
In the before times I used to travel a lot, all the time. Living on an Island it wasn’t always easy given every move I try to make to get off Martha’s Vineyard involves a running ferry service and reservations and availability and extra money but even still I did it, with minimal complain because it was always worth getting to see friends and family. People were generally amazed at how often I travelled living here, “you’re going off-Island again?” Live is meant to be lived in different places I say.
Cut to January 2021 and my life is being lived solely within the walls of my 425 square foot house, with the exception of daily jogs around the neighborhood and walks up to Lambert’s Cove Beach. There had been the occasional COVID friendly visits with friends (generally outdoors), and the recent running around of local holiday shopping, between stores and the post office. But now As of January 1st we are officially hunkered down, in a 14 day quarantine with no outside contact so that we can safely go visit Dave and Nora, after of course a negative COVID test too.
It’s similar to the quarantine we were under when we returned from Atlanta in May, and it will be similar to the quarantine we’ll have to do at the end of January when we return from New York. I long for the days to travel freely at the drop of a dime, without all of the extra time, logistics and safety precautions that the pandemic has created. Sigh.
As I was drafting this post something crazy happened. A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol while Congress was waiting to confirm Biden’s victory. It was fucking nuts, something out of a movie, or a scene we’d watch on world news, the happenings of an unstable faraway land. But alas we’re the unstable ones. And all the chaos ensued as a direct result of the unhinged ramblings of our own president.
He has told repeated lies about voter fraud, undermining people’s confidence in elections. He has defied the Constitution. He has spent his final weeks in office pressuring other government officials to overturn the result of an election he lost., that all of the recounts and the courts proved again and again that he rightfully lost. He led his supporters to fall for his lies and instigated the riot on our Capital and on our democracy. And we as a country allowed it to happen, as we sat by and allowed him to fan the fires of hate and fear.
Today hundreds of people stormed through police, broke windows, and fought their way into the building, vandalized the House floor and offices. It was an utter disgrace and a reflection of just how dangerous the President’s words really are, and how divided as a country we are. Given most of the protesters where white men who got away with doing it without aggressive force by the police, it also underscores just how racist we are as a country. The day was filled with acts of violence on behalf of the rioters that far exceeded the acts of those rioters during the Black Lives Mater protest, yet they were met with no force and so far no repercussions. And how will the president be help responsible? I can only hope he will somehow, yet I remain pessimistic that justice will prevail.
So here we are amid a pandemic, social unrest and a civil war and it’s only a week in to 2021. So much for all those brighter days ahead we’ve been waiting for. It’s time to face the music and realize the extent of just how fractured we really are.
What I’m looking forward to: Those deep hugs from my friends! I can’t wait to reunite with some of my besties and spend a few days together pretending like the world isn’t the hot mess that it is. I’m also looking forward to taking our RV for a test drive and getting comfortable behind the wheel.
Goals for 2021: More safe travel, pimping out the RV, and still getting to discover new places. Scaling Shored Up Digital in the right way that makes sense for the business, my time, and my pocketbook. Possibly buying some property that we can use as rental potential or possibly a second home.
Other headlines: Thank you Georgia! Victories by Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock now give Democrats control in both chambers of Congress. Thank you to all my old Atlanta friends who campaigned to help make it happen! Vaccines are rolling out but it’s going to be a long haul.
Something that made me sad: Talking to my dad about how sad it is that he hasn’t been able to hug his parents in months, and “we’re not the kind of family that doesn’t hug.” Their visits now are short and behind masks. Luckily I was able to get a week of safe space time with my dad to freely hug him but I am still scarred by the first time I saw him in March when I couldn’t and how heartbreaking that was for both of us.