Like most\nAmericans, there are quite a few things I\u2019ve been guilty of taking for granted.\nThe coronavirus is teaching me that. Things I didn\u2019t appreciate enough or went\nthrough the motions on. Along with it,\nand as I find myself finishing up my third week of working from home (and what\nhas already been a lifetime of social distancing,) I\u2019ve also begun to realize how\nmany things I miss. Things I can\u2019t wait to do again once this whole coronavirus\npandemic is over and a distant memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Usually,\nit\u2019s the little things. Never the big ones. The small, seemingly-inconsequential\nstuff that I never used to give much thought to. Like getting my hair cut. My\nwife has banned me from that one (sorry Price\u2019s Barber Shop!) My hair now looks\nlike a cross between modern art and what happens to a marshmallow when you toss\nit in a fire. I think my follicles are actually some kind of imprisoned demon\nyearning to be free, and it takes all of my strength to contain it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I try to\nslick it down, pressing and tucking and unspooling, but just when I think I\nhave things under control and go about my business, I hear a loud snap like a\npine tree cracking in half and elaborate curls spring out, making my head look like\na K-9 agility course full of rings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I miss\nknowing what day it is. For whatever reason, time just blurs together now. And\nit ticks off slower and slower. I look at April and think, \u201cWow! Thirty days?\nHow are we ever going to get through this uncharted wilderness!?!\u201d It seems\nlike it will go on forever. I miss when Fridays were exciting, and Saturdays\nwere relaxing. I even miss when Mondays were something to be dreaded. Now, I\njust go through a factory-line of days that spill into the next. With a little\nluck, I remember to shower and brush my teeth at the start of each one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I never\nfully appreciated my office, or how there wasn\u2019t constantly food around all\nhours of the day. But at home, thanks to our misplaced priorities and a\nslightly skewed view of what constitutes \u201cemergency rations,\u201d we are stocked up\nwith donuts, frosted sugar cookies and miniature ice cream sandwiches. Pretty\nmuch exclusively those three things. My family appears to subscribe to this\nmantra: If the apocalypse is coming, then go down on a sugar high. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this\nmeans a constant stream of treats whenever I want. And I pretty much want all\nthe time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I never\nfully appreciated NOT having to wash my hands all the time, as gross as that\nmay seem, or being able to go walk my dog without having to take part in\nconversations that more or less went like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neighbor:\nHey Brian! You\u2019ll never believe it, but I found toilet paper! Last pack and\neverything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: Well,\num, yeah. Good going there. That\u2019s really a high water mark moment, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neighbor: Tell\nme about it. I\u2019m so proud of myself. I was like, \u201cman, I\u2019m not sure I can\nwrestle it away from this guy who\u2019s twice my size,\u201d but I just thought about\nhow we were down to our last seven squares and \u2013 Woo-ee! \u2013 something primal\ntook over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: OK,\nthen. So \u2026 I\u2019m going to go now \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For that\nmatter, I probably never appreciated neighbors enough. I miss my neighbors. I\nknow they\u2019re still out there. Around us. Fighting over toilet paper. But I\ndon\u2019t see them like I used to. I feel guilty when I walk up to talk, or how we\nall feel the need to keep our distance, as if we don\u2019t totally trust where the\nother one has been. It\u2019s what we\u2019re supposed to do, I get it. But it doesn\u2019t\nmake it feel any better. These people we\u2019ve known for so long, and come to\ntrust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I miss\nshaking hands and pats on the back, and even those guys who would come up and\npunch me in the arm because that was their way of bonding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When people\nare sick and dying, I know it\u2019s ridiculous, even selfish, to think about all of\nthis. For me, though, it\u2019s more a reminder of how much I took for granted, and\nwhat I really need to appreciate one day \u2013 hopefully soon \u2013 when this is all\njust a distant memory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like most Americans, there are quite a few things I\u2019ve been guilty of taking for granted. The coronavirus is teaching me that. Things I didn\u2019t appreciate enough or went through the motions on. Along with it, and as I find myself finishing up my third week of working from home (and what has already been a lifetime of social distancing,) I\u2019ve also begun to realize how many things I miss. Things I can\u2019t wait to do again once this whole coronavirus pandemic is over and a distant memory. <\/p>\n
Usually, it\u2019s the little things. Never the big ones. The small, seemingly-inconsequential stuff that I never used to give much thought to. Like getting my hair cut. My wife has banned me from that one (sorry Price\u2019s Barber Shop!) My hair now looks like a cross between modern art and what happens to a marshmallow when you toss it in a fire. I think my follicles are actually some kind of imprisoned demon yearning to be free, and it takes all of my strength to contain it. <\/p>\n
I try to slick it down, pressing and tucking and unspooling, but just when I think I have things under control and go about my business, I hear a loud snap like a pine tree cracking in half and elaborate curls spring out, making my head look like a K-9 agility course full of rings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,577],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-nutshells","category-coronavirus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2065,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064\/revisions\/2065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}