The Isolation Journals - Day 9

Y'all, I have to get something off my chest.  I saw something the other day that has been weighing on me.  I don't know what to make of it.  It could be a sign of total collapse in societal norms, or it could be a ray of hope.  You tell me.

What happened was this.  I was walking Charlie on a recent warm day.   As we rounded a corner, we passed by this house with a couple derelict vehicles parked in the side yard.  A sturdy woman with a shock of short, gray hair stood behind an SUV with a hose in one hand and a bucket in the other. 

Totally normal stuff for a warm, sunny day. 

However, and I know we're relaxing our standards of dress these days, this woman took quarantine casual to an extraordinary height.  She was slaying. it. in a silky burgundy lingerie set.  Believe me when I say there is no planet on which this could have possibly been a bikini.  It was definitely lingerie.  And I'm so confused because she looked at once psychotic and totally hot.  I don't know whether to be concerned for her or envious of her. 

Speaking of not knowing what to make of this brave new world we're living in, here's another day of The Isolation Journals.  Day 9.

Prompt:  Choose a line from a book—you can grab the nearest one and flip it open to a random page, or pick an old favorite you’ve memorized by heart. Whatever grabs your attention; whatever intrigues. Use it as the opening sentence for today’s journal entry, and let the words flow from there. 

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"Like all failed experiments, that one taught me something I didn't expect:  one key ingredient of so-called experience is the delusional faith that it is unique and special, that those included in it are privileged and those excluded from it are missing out."

-Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Good Squad, p. 74 

As I was thumbing aimlessly through the topmost book in my bedside to-read pile, this quote leapt off the page.  It speaks to our now in so many ways.  

Do you wake up every day wondering whether we are living in a global, or at least national, failed experiment?  That this virus will rage on and take lives because we waited too long to respond?  And when we finally emerge to examine our new normal, we will see that the capitalist system has failed us?  

Will any but the wealthiest of us still have jobs, or healthcare, or be able to keep our housing?  Will our favorite third spaces, the independent bars, cafes, restaurants, book shops, still be there to welcome us back?  Or are we doomed to an era of corporate sameness and chain restaurants?  

I said to Andy the other day, "I can't wait to go to Olive Garden when all this is over."  It was a joke, but it wasn't funny. It's a real fear (no shade on that soup, salad, and breadsticks deal, though).  Not just out of selfish desire to preserve local culture for my own enjoyment, but but out of fear for where all those workers and business owners will go, and what that loss does to their individual lives and the economy as a whole.

As the quote suggests, though, anyone going through this would be delusional to think their fears and struggles are unique and special, a singular experience.  We're all in this separately, together, no FOMO.  This is not an exclusive party, no velvet rope around here.  We're all on the VIP list whether we like it or not.  Here we all are, may as well make the best of it.  Does this party at least have cake?