Adult friendships are hard. Yet in this time of the pandemic, they are more important than ever. Everyone I know is experiencing some form of loneliness, anxiety, unease.
You’d have to be living in a cave not to feel the uncertainty and sadness accompanying this period when there are more than 160,000 dead from the disease. We are in and out of quarantine, our daily routines are upended, there is economic hardship all around and we’re watching our children suffer from disturbed schooling and socialization. Even Michelle Obama, who I admire greatly for her humor, strength and determination, admitted this week that she’s suffering from low-level depression.
Last week, a wonderful play about nurses by Eve Ensler was released. It’s called "The Kindness: Nurses in their Own Words" and was supposed to be seen live in the theater. However, because of COVID-19, it was released on YouTube instead.
Ensler interviews her subjects, then strings together these interviews into a meaningful theater piece — using professional actors to speak the words of her subjects: nurses.
Last week, we attended the soft opening of the new Bob’s Well Bread outpost in Ballard. After all, it was quite an exciting event: a new restaurant in the Valley, a second location of Bob's already wildly popular establishment in Los Alamos — now even closer to us in the charming town of Ballard.
It was especially exciting in the time of the pandemic, when so many social events and gatherings have been curtailed.
We met a lot of old friends there that day, but one interaction (masked and at a socially distant space) stayed with me. A friend, who looked lovely in a new linen dress, saying she’d dressed up for the occasion, answered my question of how she was doing with the response, “Terrific. Really just wonderful!”
At the beginning of September, my husband and I set out on an RV vacation— our first. Since we both retired from our 9-to-5 jobs a few years ago, we’ve been fortunate to be able to take long trips overseas. But in this year of COVID-19, that was certainly not possible.
So, we reached into our bucket list and decided that this would be an excellent time to visit the Western National Parks. Neither of us had previously seen most of our incredible National Park System — one which offers so many natural wonders and is the envy of the world.
In the times we live, there is one question I keep asking: How can people see or participate in the same event, yet come out with completely different observations? The differences or schisms in our country, and even our Valley, are truly puzzling. Now that both major political parties in America have completed their national conventions and announced their positions, we see even more, not less division.
I thought back to an experience I had around five years ago, when I realized how differently people can see and hear the exact same event, yet react in totally different ways.In the times we live, there is one question I keep asking: How can people see or participate in the same event, yet come out with completely different observations? The differences or schisms in our country, and even our Valley, are truly puzzling. Now that both major political parties in America have completed their national conventions and announced their positions, we see even more, not less division.
I thought back to an experience I had around five years ago, when I realized how differently people can see and hear the exact same event, yet react in totally different ways.
