It’s a holiday. It’s Sunday. It’s really hard to know this. If it weren’t for the calendar right now, I couldn’t tell you one day from the next. Easter is here and this is really not where I expected to be. I guess we are all feeling that right now. From my vantage point in the Little Green House on the Hill, it’s kinda surreal. I’ve decided not to watch so much news coverage. What difference does it make really. All I need to know is when it’s over. But then, will it really ever be over? What will over look like?
I think it’s also important to be real right now. When people post on social media, they usually only tell the good side. Show the best photos. Crop out the messy room, paint a pretty image with frilly words. Life isn’t always cropped. Here’s the real deal. Even in a happy house…things can get ….tense.
The captain hasn’t been feeling her best these last few days. Sometimes the new knees just don’t want to behave as they should and she gets achy from the days activities. Yesterday, I could tell she was feeling it. She hit the couch about 6pm and decided to take a nap. Before she laid down, she put the easter eggs on to boil. Bailey, our oldest pup roams the house freely. He typically needs no chaperone. Alex, the middle child, is usually with the kid..hold up in her room and either sleeping or watching Law and Order SVU. Yesterday, at two different times of the day, both of them managed to make their way into the area where the cats eat. There they helped themselves to two heaping bowls of IAMs dry cat food and two plates of Fancy Feast each. The cats were furious. I could have sworn I heard Sherbie use a four letter word and it wasn’t meow. It was a comedy of errors really. I thought the captain had Bailey in with her. Sherbie pushed the kids bedroom door open and Alex took advantage of the opportunity, Now, I knew what to expect. In about 8 hours or so, things were going to get…loose. Cut to Sunday. The holiest of Sundays too. The captain decided to make her grandmas recipe for Tuna-Pasta salad. It’s really tasty. So here’s the thing though. For the last 12 hours, our home has smelled like boiled eggs, tuna and gassy, cat food eating dogs. Yankee Candle doesn’t make anything strong enough to cut that smell. These are the days i wish I really could go “nose blind.” The issue with opening the windows? Pollen! Holy crap it’s stout. I’m 2 seconds away from wearing my N95 mask inside the house.
Also…forget trying to eat well on quarantine. It’s not gonna happen. Let me be clear. I’m eating well. By well, I am referring to quantity. I am more than doing my part to clean out the pantry and freezer. This of course has me feeling heavy and tired. Add to that the incredible guilt I feel right now. Guilt because I hope I’m doing what I should at work, at home, for society to recover. If I had the skill set, I’d be out there helping the nurses. I can’t even apply a band aid correctly. I feel like I should be doing something more. I’ve donated money to buys masks and stayed at home unless picking up supplies. Then I have my mask, hand sanitizer and follow the protocol precisely. But it’s stressful. I can feel the weight of it. I picture this crazy little germ in dark, microscpoic Ray-bans and a trench coat, just hiding out and waiting for me to slip up. All it takes is one door knob. Someone pass the Doritos while I stress eat myself to death.
So…to summarize….I’ve been reduced to an overly smell sensitive, over eater with confidence and guilt issues. Hopefully this will end soon before I become permanently agoraphobic. But since I can’t end on a down note, no matter how tense it is at times…the captain opened the door for the Easter Bunny this morning and he left me a Lindt Gold hollow chocolate Easter bunny. YES! I may just have to nibble his ears off and fill him full of Woodford Reserve. CHEERS! and Happy Easter!