If we need to distance ourselves from one another physically (for physical safety), I'd love if we could find new ways to be close.
The girlettes volunteered:
Mz called last night:
she's come down with something and was worried--not surprisingly, since fear is the most contagious virus.
I said I'd come over with a thermometer and tea. Penny Cooper said she wanted to go stay with Mz. (She may or may not have read this month's Smithsonian article about Florence Nightingale...)
We stood outside the door while Mz took her temperature. Normal!
Girl has a cold.
I handed over Penny Cooper and the two bags of groceries I'd brought.
Including a bunch of Protea--
they look like virus-flowers from outerspace, you know
(I suppose most lifeforms share a lot of qualities with viruses),
and a bunch of other things, including a roast chicken.
I got the absolutely last chicken at the store.
"We usually sell 70," the deli-worker said. "Today we sold 140. I guess people don't want to go out to dinner."
I had to buy the $11 bag of brown rice (each grain hand-polished?) because the shelf of regular rice was empty.
I turned to a shopper nearby and said, "Is there something about rice?"
"It last a long time," he said. Like, where have I been.
First I was enraged.
I was raging to a friend, Where's the emergency response to the dangers I see every day at the store? People sleeping outside in winter...
And then I felt sad.
We don't trust that if we need a roast chicken, someone will share theirs. And we're likely correct, if everyone else is in fear.
So we have to buy up all the roast chickens (t.p., rice, whatever) for ourselves.
This is going to be an episode of Hidden Brain any minute now, no doubt--about the entirely predictable responses to a crisis.
I resent the way leaders are letting the amygdala run the show.
Lying in bed last night, I was wondering how can I shift this fear-reaction, at least for myself?
And the girlettes piped up, "We can help!"
So, if you live nearby and need a friendly little companion, I could drop a girlette off, and if you're far away, they can travel by mail too! Just let me know.
I must say, as I wrote on FB, they're useless at housework, but they are surprisingly good companions.
It's nice being at work--my coworkers have a range of responses, but just now Mr Linens said to me,
The girlettes volunteered:
Mz called last night:
she's come down with something and was worried--not surprisingly, since fear is the most contagious virus.
I said I'd come over with a thermometer and tea. Penny Cooper said she wanted to go stay with Mz. (She may or may not have read this month's Smithsonian article about Florence Nightingale...)
We stood outside the door while Mz took her temperature. Normal!
Girl has a cold.
I handed over Penny Cooper and the two bags of groceries I'd brought.
Including a bunch of Protea--
they look like virus-flowers from outerspace, you know
(I suppose most lifeforms share a lot of qualities with viruses),
and a bunch of other things, including a roast chicken.
I got the absolutely last chicken at the store.
"We usually sell 70," the deli-worker said. "Today we sold 140. I guess people don't want to go out to dinner."
I had to buy the $11 bag of brown rice (each grain hand-polished?) because the shelf of regular rice was empty.
I turned to a shopper nearby and said, "Is there something about rice?"
"It last a long time," he said. Like, where have I been.
First I was enraged.
I was raging to a friend, Where's the emergency response to the dangers I see every day at the store? People sleeping outside in winter...
And then I felt sad.
We don't trust that if we need a roast chicken, someone will share theirs. And we're likely correct, if everyone else is in fear.
So we have to buy up all the roast chickens (t.p., rice, whatever) for ourselves.
This is going to be an episode of Hidden Brain any minute now, no doubt--about the entirely predictable responses to a crisis.
I resent the way leaders are letting the amygdala run the show.
Lying in bed last night, I was wondering how can I shift this fear-reaction, at least for myself?
And the girlettes piped up, "We can help!"
So, if you live nearby and need a friendly little companion, I could drop a girlette off, and if you're far away, they can travel by mail too! Just let me know.
I must say, as I wrote on FB, they're useless at housework, but they are surprisingly good companions.
It's nice being at work--my coworkers have a range of responses, but just now Mr Linens said to me,
"This is a message from God: Who wins a sports game doesn't matter. Your big TV and your Cadillac don't matter.
What matters is your friendships and your love-ships."I am good with that.
