It is the first day of May 2020. I am sitting on my back patio, and it is a beautiful day. I can hear Little Chirp’s basketball bouncing in the driveway. Potatoe is laying next to me, and the kitties are all lounging in what I guess they are claiming as their new hammock. The hammock had been in a box in the garage, and the boys put it together earlier this week. All three kitties are stretched out on it at the moment. I guess the bushy tailed intruders have not noticed because they are no where in sight. Brainy Bird is inside finishing his school work, which he probably should have gotten done earlier this week.
It is Friday, and I have taken the day off. I “return” to work on Tuesday. I am beyond grateful to have a job right now, and I am blessed to have a job I love. I just needed a mental break; I was becoming consumed with work and stress. When we are at home all day; it makes it more difficult to unplug. I was simply working around the clock on both weekdays and weekends. I needed to consciously take a break. Funny, I will enjoy my time off, but I will look forward to being back to work on Tuesday.
Today is a big day for the state of Texas in that we begin the first phase of our reopening. I got up early and enjoyed a 4 mile run with Potatoe in the cool morning air, and then I got ready, and did a few work tasks to wrap up my work week, so I could begin my mini-vacation.
I then did something that I had not done for 45 days. I went to a restaurant to eat. I met my friends Laurie and Morgan at Sizzle and Brew, one of our favorite local spots. The coffee was amazing. One of the owners, Brooke sat and talked with us for awhile. For most of the time that we were there, we were the only ones there. It felt weird eating with all paper and plastic plates, cups, utensils, etc, but it felt great to be with friends.
We mostly talked about the situation at hand, and how incredibly good the bacon was. The biggest takeaway to the conversation is that we have a very long road ahead to recovery. Yes, restaurants got to open their doors today, but they cannot make a profit with the 25% occupancy restriction. Bars, gyms, hair and nail salons and many other business remain closed, with uncertainty around when they will be able to reopen.
As Laurie said, “it is just hard to believe all that is happening.”
I cannot stop thinking about how easy it has been for our government to shutdown the livelihoods of so many people in an instant. While we need to be forward looking and embrace the positive aspects of each day, we need to be learning from what has happened, and we need to make sure that it never happens again.
It was so good to see Laurie, Morgan and Brooke. It has been way too long since Brooke and I had our morning coffee together, even if I was the only one with coffee and Brooke was wearing a mask, as required of all restaurant workers. I had not seen any of them since March23, the day that everything was shutdown. I hope that the four of us are all sitting together at Laurie’s bar soon. 💕
It is the little things in life.