Day 147, self quarantine:
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Eric spent all day yesterday with us and it was glorious.
And now it’s 7:30 a.m. and we just hugged him goodbye and I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to look at this picture without sobbing.
When Eric regaled us with stories of being a new home owner, I laughed and commiserated and swallowed the lump of sadness that Gary and I are not a part of anything in his new life and how crazy it is he’s been living there since May 1 and we haven’t even seen his new house yet.
Okay, I’m being a drama queen, I know Gary and I will always be a part of Eric’s life - he is cursed with our DNA.
But as Eric told me last night, “I see my parents more than any of my friends! Before the pandemic, I used to see you guys once a month or at least every couple of months!”
Oy.
Once again I relayed the story of families and Philadelphia neighborhoods to Eric, telling him how generations of families would live in say, South Philadelphia. Your parents lived down the street, your grandparents around the corner. Every Friday nightyou all had dinner together.
Eric gets it but didn’t say what he was also thinking - The world has changed, mom.
I know, but instead of crying on the spot like I felt like doing, I retreated back to my comfort zone of fantasizing that Eric and Natalie raise their family in a town that we’ll all, Julie and Katie, too, want to relocate to.
Eric’s visit was incredible because he’s incredible and does it make me a terrible clinging person if I want him in my life every day?
Or at least weekly...bimonthly... I don’t care, anything is better than this.
Anyway, I’m not going to be all sad or depressed today. I’m determined to go back to living a day at a time and not squandering precious minutes being miserable over something I can’t fix today.
But I gotta start working on Gary again to part with possessions with an eye toward the future and we both have to lose our very strong attachment to this house or we’re going to end up being iPad grandparents and that’s just unacceptable.
We’ve been quarantined so long we’re living in a loop right now and Gary and I don’t really think about much these days beyond What should we have for dinner but America is a scary place right now and there are terrible things happening.
Donald is gutting the post office.
Getting mail on time is something we took for granted.
Those days are over and if you don’t think that’s a problem, then I guess you don’t know anyone who gets their medication or checks in the mail.
Or votes via mail in ballot.
Got it now?
On Friday, the Republican Senate left town without passing a stimulus bill.
Forty million Americans are now starting their second week being totally cut off from $600 Federal weekly unemployment in the middle of a raging pandemic.
Donald went golfing...but wait! He called a press conference for 7:00 p.m. last night! Was he going to ride in on his white horse and sign an (illegal) Executive Order extending federal unemployment?
No.
What followed was a bizarre appearance at his country club with his $300,000 annual dues paying members in attendance, not wearing masks or being socially distant, holding glasses filled with expensive wine, cheering him on while he made bizarre promises, a speech so unhinged Fox News cut away from him.
He said he’s going to sign an Executive order requiring health insurance companies to provide coverage for preexisting conditions for all Americans.
Except dude, that’s Obamacare, the very thing you’re trying to overturn in court.
Anyway, to those paying attention, it was Donald’s Let Them Eat Cake Moment combined with the Mad fucking Hatter.
All he wanted last night was applause and the wealthy drunken imbeciles in attendance gave him what he desired.
So I guess he knows he can cheat and steal this election no matter what?
I hope I’m wrong but it’s not looking good.
The election is three months away and the Republicans aren’t even trying to rein him in.
They’re actually going to abandon forty million unemployed Americans?
I still don’t believe it.
Maybe seeing what happened last night will have everyone so appalled they will reach a deal Monday.
Fingers crossed.
Oy, sorry, I went from talking about Eric to Donald.
But this is the apocalypse diary so I gotta write exactly what I’m thinking.
Anyway, I’m gonna regroup and salvage the day.
Happy Saturday!
