Day 3 -- Wednesday, March 19, 2020
Every day, for the past several days, it's been rainy, overcast, damp, and dark. And this morning when I walked the dog was no exception. There were massive puddles from last night's rainstorm. The clouds still hung low in the sky dusting me with droplets of mist.
The weather cast a mood for a pandemic. Isolation weather. In your imagination, you picture people suffering from the plague or the Spanish flu or small pox or cholera in darkened rooms under overcast skies. It's dark, the world is dark, and people are sick and dying.
When I called into my telephonic hearing this morning at 9:30 a.m., the world outside was still dark, unwelcoming, brooding, even threatening. It's dangerous out here -- dark weather, a mysterious virus, dark times.
But sometime during the 2+ hours that I sat on the phone listening to other people talking, and talking a little bit, the clouds parted.
When I took the dog for a walk at noon, the sun was dazzlingly bright, almost obnoxious in its brilliance after so many overcast days. The heat felt good on my skin and the top of my head. I could almost feel summer streaks starting to form in my honey-colored hair. I vaguely worried that the small strip of scalp at my part might get burned. The sky was robin's egg blue with cottony clouds, no more storm clouds for the moment. A slight breeze blew my hair into my face and I left it there because it felt nice. My dog veritably pranced down the sidewalk with a trot that seemed to smile at everything he passed.
This is not pandemic weather. And yet it is. Dallas County reported 11 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the total number of cases in Dallas County to 39. The stricken range in age from teens to 70s, and one person is critical.
So, until the next rain storm, we live in this incongruity, with spring emerging, while we all hide from each other and a threat we can't see or know whether we've encountered. Sunny, happy skies and social distance. It wasn't always rainy and dark in the times of the plague or cholera. They also suffered the brutal reality of an infectious disease in the light of a pleasant, sunny day.
And later in the afternoon, as if the world knew that we were still under a metaphorical cloud, real clouds started rolling in again, and by evening, another storm was brewing.
Day 4 -- Thursday, March 19, 2020
Today, I fixed my hair for the first time since I've been teleworking. I put powder on my face, tinted lip balm on my lips, and mascara on my eyelashes. I put on R2-D2 earrings, a Cub Scout bracelet that says "helpful," my watch, and my wedding band. I have tired of seeing my disheveled self in the mirror. And to get just a little cleaned up, makes me feel better. I don't really do much to fix my hair on a daily basis, nor do I wear a lot of make-up -- not much more than I have on now -- day to day. But to do it was a small exercise in self-care. And we need to be doing that to preserve our sanity while we hunker down. Do something for yourself too.
