Personal Blog

Election Day

Three days after Halloween, we still wear our masks, trying to scare off the coronavirus as we cast our votes for the next President of the United States.

Some are excited, others terrified, but most of us are a boozy cocktail of both.

The imminent onslaught of chaos that looms over the country is anxiety-inducing. For months, the election has hung in the imbalance of political theater as the coronavirus has creeped up on us like a beast in the tales of old, and we are exhausted from the mental gymnastics of trying to set our priorities straight between health and politics.

As the chronic spread of misinformation turns into a full-on plague, the pen cuts deeper than the sword, and the battleground runs red with the blood of our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our fathers, and our sons. It’s all bark and no bite until someone dies.

We have been ravaged at the hands of our leader, and it is time to bite the hand that feeds off of our hard-earned money. The poison can only fester within for so long before we are forced to spit it out and admit how toxic our nation has become.

Keep your gas masks ready; more bombs are coming to a screen near you.

A Much Needed Vacation

Once, we ran to here and there, and travelled to many places. Now, in the wake of COVID-19, we run in place, going nowhere. 

The hustle and bustle of the 21st Century has a new face, scrunched up with the worry of the next meal, the next paycheck, the next human interaction, counting down the days until rent is due. 

The hurdles of these times are endless, each one more challenging than the last. A change of scenery could do us all some good instead of staring at the same walls of our homes as we wait out the disease that has infected our sense of humanity.  

A friend and I went to Chicago this weekend. We went for sushi, strolled around Chinatown, shopped for clothes, and, for most of our three day excursion, stayed indoors at our mutual friend’s very expensive, very tiny apartment in a renovated hotel.

We spent three and half hours playing a single board game. Spent another three hours playing card games. Yet another few hours were dedicated to simply talking and eating and when our heads finally hit our pillows, we found ourselves utterly exhausted. 

For me, it was the first time in over a month that I had been out of my apartment for more than a few hours. For my friend in Chicago, it was only the second time he had hung out with people in person since quarantine began eight months ago. For my friend who came with me, well, I think she was tired from the sitting still of it all; she is typically such a busy body. Slowing down can be just as exhausting as speeding up. 

We are heading back to Michigan now, not so eager to return to our slow-moving lives. But we will return with a newer appreciation for the value of small moments in small spaces because these small moments count for everything when distance is valued over time.