I want to participate in different challenges than I usually do. This is one of them.

I’d happily sit in a cramped airplane seat if it meant going somewhere.

What I want and what I can have are very different right now. I want to be traveling somewhere, but instead am stuck at home. I want to be able to see and hug my friends, but only Zoom views and virtual hugs are available to me right now.  I want to be grateful for what I have and the many ways I’ve been blessed, but the monotony of my stay-at-home days is getting tedious. And this reminds me of a song from My Fair Lady...

 
All I want is a trip somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
I’d take an airplane chair
And think that it is loverly!

Lots of chocolate for me to eat
Lots of adventure in the African heat
Or Spain, or China, to see —
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly?

(OK, not too great but this IS Stream of Consciousness on a Saturday with the prompt want. So I will not take the time to think much about this silly song that popped into my head.)

Yes, it’s true – I want to be anywhere but here. Yet here is not so bad – it’s better than what some people have to put up with. And we are blessed to live on a nicely landscaped campus with two small lakes and plenty of wildlife.

One of our two small “lakes,” taken earlier this year.

The quarantine for this part of the state of Illinois is until at least May 30, maybe longer. And living in a senior community, the “opening” will be even more cautious. We are lucky to have had only 2 positive cases of COVID-19 here, both staff members that we don’t have any contact with anyway; the first one recovered and the second one is currently quarantined at home. Now we’ve heard that people from the state health department are going to test every resident in every senior facility. I don’t know when this will happen but I’m pretty sure we have nothing to worry about.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, and originally the forecast was for the weather to get warmer and warmer, but that has since changed. Today isn’t bad, but by 3:00 this afternoon when we went for a walk, there was a chilly wind that made us not want to take a second loop around the campus. We saw lots of people we know today, though, people we haven’t seen in quite a while. One of my friends here is moving out – I don’t want her to go! She won’t be leaving until the end of June, though, and she won’t be far away from here – I want to keep in touch!

Biggest surprise today was seeing my SISTER out walking with her husband! I had expressed the wish just this morning that my sister would get out of her house and walk more. And today she did! I was so happy I wanted to hug her – but no, I did the right thing and stood six feet from her and from the others who gathered to chat.

I want to come up with a list of words that describe this time:  doldrums, ennui (thank you, Melanie at Casa Bee Cee!), boredom, tedium, same-old-same-old, routine, monotony/monotonous, uninteresting or boring (in describing the food), … I’ll think of more.

But tonight we are going to have our Middle Eastern food that we ordered last night from Pita Pita! This is great for a change, and I think we are going to order from a restaurant once a week now.  We get only two choices a day here and they keep repeating the same things.  Support local businesses, that is what we want to do. Yesterday, we drove to the plant store that I used to always shop at before we moved, and saw a friend there that I haven’t seen in months! The store was crowded, impossible to maintain physical distance, but at least everyone was wearing a mask. And now I have something new to do – work on my garden!

Today we put in three tomato plants and six tiny strawberry plants right behind our house. Tomorrow we’ll plant the flowers I bought if it isn’t raining (which it is supposed to do). The remainder of the tomato plants and the pepper plants, plus some packets of flower seeds I will plant in my plot in the community garden – but we are required to wear a mask while working there!

Wow, these are weird times!