The Isolation Journals - Day 5

Yesterday was Andy's birthday.  I made him a card.  We threw him a surprise Zoom happy hour.  I made a ricotta cheese pie.  We got takeout.  We did our best.

Today's prompt:  Find a good spot in front of your favorite window. What do you see? Write about the view—this can be a description of what’s unfolding right now, or you can branch off into a fictional reality. Maybe the window is open and sounds, smells, and a breeze are slipping in; maybe there are people in the street, maybe it’s empty. Either way, record the moment.

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The sliding glass doors onto our balcony keep the walls of our 900 square foot apartment from closing in on us, inch by inch, as the days of our quarantine tick by.  I know our space is palatial by coastal city standards, but this is Nashville, and I've learned that for better or worse, most things are bigger in the South. 

This north-facing window is at its best in the morning and evening, pulling the sunrise and sunset into our little space.  The cat and dog, still skeptical of one another after seven years of cohabitation, defy social distancing orders and risk contact to crowd into the early morning sunbeams.  Nose and paw prints are ever present on the bottom quadrant of the glass.

The humans appreciate the window, too.  There's so much to see!  Something for everyone, for every mood.  The sad, the practical, the curious, the voyeuristic.  

In normal times, I used to glance down at the shoppers coming and going at The Book Shop and its neighboring coffee shop. I would always think, how nice to have these right across the street, and yet I patronized each of them only once.  Now I spy their darkened interiors with a tinge of regret.

If I step out onto the balcony, I can see the Aldi parking lot.  Gauging the size of the crowd in the store could be a matter of life or death these days.  Their seltzer is cheap and I have a problematic fondness for their prunes, but one has to have priorities.  

And then there are the neighbors.  The people in the apartments across the street lead such interesting lives!  I promise this is more Margaret Meade than Rear Window, but now that we've finished Tiger King, our favorite thing to watch is the What Are They Doing Over There? channel (check your local listings, programming may vary).  

There are so many good shows.  There's the one with the guy who sleeps all day with his blinds open and full sun pouring onto his bed.  There's the wake-n-bake guy who looks like Marc Maron's stunt double.  There's the couple with the curious new puppy - they like to dangle this wiggly puppy out their 4th floor window, Michael Jackson style.  I vacillate between none of my business and call the ASPCA or Sarah McLaughlin or whoever handles this kind of nonsense.

The nighttime shows on What Are They Doing are the best, though.  It's hard to pick a favorite, but Frequently Naked Guy and Polyamorous Throuple are always a solid bet.

It is often said of cities that it's easy to feel lonely but you're never truly alone.  Our window reminds us of that on a daily basis.  We are all living our weird and separate lives, alone, together.