July 26, 2020

WFH: Week Twenty

The oleanders bloom all summer. And here we are, late July and week twenty of working from home.

When I was growing up, it was during the summer that I realized my mom had scheduled the rhythm of our life. One day was designated for housecleaning, one for grocery shopping, one for laundry. If the weather cooperated, there were beach days, too.

And so it is now, for me. Saturdays, of course, are for cycling! I've found the optimal (early morning) days for grocery shopping, and Sundays are for laundry: I tug the sheets off the bed with me as I rise, and they're washed (and sometimes dried) before I finish my breakfast.

Sundays are also for the occasional stroll to the local farmers' market. I've optimized my route, shunning the busy sidewalks for a (shadier!) back street. They've chalked socially-distant circles to help us line up at the booths, but that does nothing for the clueless who simply gather in the middle of it all to chat. Like the guy who stood less than two feet behind me, mask pulled down, gabbing with two (masked) friends.

This is why we can't have nice things.

He was facing away from me; I edged myself slightly forward, anyway. That seemed safer than asking him to move, or (imagine!) wear his mask.

Last week I was excited to score an appointment for a haircut, a luxury I haven't enjoyed since February. Salons in our county got the all-clear to open on Monday; before the day arrived, the county reversed itself and shut everything down again as of the end of Tuesday. In the grand scheme of things, my (now) ponytail simply is what it is: a reminder of the passage of time.

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