Day 2677: Who is the enemy?

These days, sometimes what I’m hearing is people trying to figure out who the enemy is.

Is the enemy

• a political party?
• a political leader?
• those telling us to practice social distancing?
• old habits?
• cognitive distortions?
• the news media?
• the virus itself?
• ourselves?
• those we see as different from us?
• confusion?
• mixed messages?
• hoarding?
• lies?
• the truth?
• greed?
• business?
• socialism?
• capitalism?
• fear?
• death?

Trying to figure out who the enemy is can take up a lot of energy.

When I look around, here, and now, I see no enemies. I see people trying their best to (1) figure out an ever-changing, unknown landscape and (2) get through this with minimal losses.

Do you see any enemies in my photos from yesterday?

Here is “The Enemy Inside” by Dream Theater:

And just to balance things out, here’s “You’ve Got a Friend” covered by my musical hero Jacob Collier, whom I am almost definitely not going to be able to see perform in Boston this May.

I’m sure I’ll see Jacob Collier in better days to come.

Who is going to comment on enemies, friends, or anything else below?

As this tea bag tells us …

… kindness has no enemy and neither does gratitude.

Day 2676: What I’m hearing

What I’m hearing, whenever somebody asks me what kind of animal I might want to be, is myself answering: “I would want to be a duck, because ducks are comfortable on land, on water, and in the air, they mate for life, and they make extremely silly noises.”

What I’m hearing, these days, are people are having more difficulty hearing because there is so much competing noise out there about what people need to do to be healthy and to survive.

What I’m hearing is that it’s time for me to share my first photo of the day:

What I’m hearing is that I will be able to conduct my Coping and Healing groups using a remote telehealth platform, starting today.  What I’m hearing is that several different people will be participating in today’s group.

What I’m hearing is that people are nervous when they do anything new for the first time.  Who looks particularly nervous in that photo above?  I’m hearing that the duck is a little anxious.

What I’m hearing is that the supply chain of food is okay, for now.

What I’m hearing is that sometimes happy coincidences happen, as you can see from last night’s teabag saying:

I’m hearing that the power of music can help us stay sane during these nutty times.

Here‘s “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” performed by Marvin Gaye, a capella (because we’re all making do without all our usual supports, these days).

What are you hearing, here and now?

I hope you’re not sick of hearing gratitude from me.

Day 2674: What we can teach each other

Yesterday, I decided that our shy cat Harley could probably teach people a thing or two about social distancing, so I started taping this tutorial:

However, Harley didn’t teach the way I expected him to. Based on my past knowledge of Harley, I assume that Harley’s behavior was different because his best friend Michael was in the room.

This morning, when Michael was not in the room, I tried again:

Somebody can teach me something about how to hold the camera and Harley can teach us all this about social distancing:

• Maintain a distance of six feet from people.
• If somebody gets too close, move away, if possible.
• If not, ask the person to back off.

Harley also teaches us that fear can make us very catty.

What can these other recent images teach us?

That teabag can teach us that our strength is our own knowledge.

I hope our knowledge and our strength help us all get through this.  I look forward to the teachings in the comments section, below.

Thanks to all who teach and learn, including YOU!

Day 2673: What’s important to remember

This morning, I saw this headline on my newsfeed:

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo says it’s important to remember that people are worried and anxious.

It was important to remember to watch Governor Cuomo delivering that message:

It’s also important to remember:

• to be empathic,
• to be mindful,
• to be kind to others and to ourselves,
• to say the important things to those who matter to us, and
• that we’re all quarantined now, in one way or another.

Let’s see if there’s anything important to remember in my quarantined photos from yesterday:

It’s important for me to remember that my cousin Liane Plane was in the original production of West Side Story on Broadway, and that The New York Times thought it was important, too, in one of several articles about Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday.

It’s important for me to remember that my friend Jeanette noticed that Liane looks like the dancer emoji💃 in that old photo.

It’s important for me to remember that Liane danced in one of my favorite musical numbers ever, “America,” even though I was too young to see her in it. Here’s “America” from the film version of West Side Story.

 

It’s important to remember that people will be dancing together again, eventually, in New York and elsewhere.

What do you think is important to remember, here and now?

I hope you remember that I’m grateful to YOU, every day.

 

Day 2672: Face it!

Face it!

Oscar does not understand the whole social distancing thing…

… but I do.

Face it!  I’ve been trying to reassure my worried friends with how well my face looks in that recent photo.

Face it!  I’ve been trying to put more smiles on my own face by watching favorite funny movies from simpler times, like Big and What About Bob?

I’ve also been stuffing my face with good food, like this:

Face it!  Humans have survived pandemics before and our best hope of survival is if we face this together (at a distance, of course!).

Face it!  This scene, starring somebody else recovering from the coronavirus,  always puts a smile on my face.

 

What’s been helping you face these strange times?

I look forward to facing your comments, below.

Face it!  I haven’t been able to go out into the world to collect new expressions of gratitude, so here are some old ones, which include a few nice faces:

 

Day 2671: Good news

There’s always good news to be found, if you look for it.

In Venice, dolphins are swimming in the clean waters of the canals for the first time in decades.

Maybe people’s reactions to the coronavirus are demonstrating that human beings can actually change their behaviors and come together for the common good.  That’s good news for our species and for the planet.

Do you see good news in any of today’s photos?

Please share whatever good news you can in the comments section, below. That would be good for all of us.

Gratitude is always good news, so thanks to all who help me share the news in this daily blog, including YOU.

 

Day 2668: What is contagious?

What is contagious?

The most obvious answer, right here right now, is COVID-19. However, many things are contagious, like

• other diseases,
• laughter,
• panic,
• calm,
• hope,
• hopelessness,
• courage,
• fear,
• respect,
• disrespect,
• love,
• hate,
• faith,
• worry,
• friendship,
• resentment,
• forgiveness,
• clarity,
• confusion,
• connection,
• disconnection,
• feelings,
• thoughts,
• art,
• music,
• war,
• peace,
• disappointment,
• empathy,
• self-centeredness,
• compassion,
• distrust,
• trust,
• assumptions,
• misinformation,
• lies,
• the truth, and
• photos like these:

 

 

Are cats contagious?

Here is “Courage is Contagious” by Damon Davis:

Here‘s ‘The Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” by Huey “Piano” Smith:

I’m looking forward to your contagious comments, below.

Gratitude is contagious, so here’s lots of that from me to YOU.

 

 

Day 2667: Until it doesn’t

Everything can seem to be a certain way until it doesn’t.

.

Everything looked fine about my attending a week-long conference in NYC the first week in March, until it wasn’t.

As of this morning, several people from the conference have tested positive for the coronavirus, including somebody I spent most of my time with there.

As soon as I noticed a low grade fever two days after I returned from the conference, I alerted my workplace and my doctors. Even though everything seemed fine at that point, I suspected it wasn’t.

And my fevers were low until they weren’t.

And I was in the emergency room until I wasn’t, admitted Monday night to a private room with maximum precautions.

And we believed there would be enough coronavirus tests available to test me, but there wasn’t.

There will be egregiously low access to testing in this country until there isn’t.

Because of all the scary reports of how the coronavirus might affect somebody like me (over 60 with a chronic heart issue), my immediate future is going to worry me until it doesn’t.

As I am home in self-quarantine with Michael and the cats, I am taking photos of what cheers me up until it doesn’t.

That was a tale of two kitties until it wasn’t.

I’m constantly monitoring my low grade fevers until they aren’t.

Pasta is still my favorite food until it isn’t.

This recent email exchange with my cardiologist strikes me as funny until it doesn’t:

Ann

There is nothing you can do now. If you spike a fever or get short of breath you should come to the hospital. As you know even if tested positive the plan would be to stay home.

Contact me if anything comes up.

Deeb

.

Could you promise to save me a ventilator if I need one?

For old time’s sake,

Ann

.

I’ll have them give you mine!

.

Here‘s “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t”, a song by Mothers about a lost cat.

This post keeps going on until it doesn’t.

Day 2666: Be careful what you wish for

My careful husband Michael, who is all that I could wish for, likes to say, “Be careful what you wish for.”

If you wish for a careful definition of that statement, here‘s one:

(be) careful what you wish for — idiom
Definition of (be) careful what you wish for
—used to tell people to think before they say that they want something and to suggest that they may not actually want it
You think having twins would be fun? Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it.

Over the past few months, I’ve often wished for

• more time at home,
• the chance to relax, and
• major changes in the current political situation.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m getting what I wished for.  I guess I should have been careful.

I want to be careful in explaining what I’m currently wishing for, because it might sound bad. I’m wishing that if I had been tested for COVID-19 (which my doctors unsuccessfully wished for and asked for) when I was briefly hospitalized with fevers earlier this week, I would have tested positive.

Why am I wishing for THAT?  Because

• I’ve been self-quarantining,  so I know I’ve done my best to reduce the spread,
• I’d be immensely relieved to know that I survived the pandemic unscathed despite being in the major risk categories (age and underlying health issues), and
•  I would now be immune to the disease, according to my careful cardiologist, Dr. Deeb Salem.

Whether or not Dr. Salem wishes to be quoted in this blog,  he often is.  Here is an excerpt of his email to me this week after my release from the hospital:

It is criminal that we have not been able to test. It is really good to hear that you are better since anyone that has the illness and recovers should now be immune.

It looks like Dr. Salem also wishes that I would have tested positive for the illness, if testing had been available.

Be careful what photos you wish for, because you might get these:

Be careful what you wish for if you wish to eat pasta every day, because that’s what we’ve got!

For those of us who wished to see more of Mayor Pete Buttigieg this year, we got this …

…  this …

… and this:

It looks like Pete, a huge Star Trek fan, got what he wished for his first time guest hosting an American late night TV show.

Here‘s part of the classic be-careful-what-you-wish-for Twilight Zone episode, “Time Enough at Last”:

What I wish for now includes (1) comments and (2) the opportunity to express my gratitude for all who help me create these daily blog posts, including YOU!

Day 2665: How bad could it be?

How bad could it be?

How can we even answer that question when

• there are so many things we don’t know and
• experts are saying it’s going to get worse before it gets better?

How bad could it be that I’m self quarantining, knowing I’m doing the best for myself and for all those I care about?

How bad could it be for me to share these photos with my good readers?

How bad could it be if

• Michael cooks delicious pasta and
•  Oscar and Harley look up and share our happiness?

How bad could it be if Stephen Sondheim is turning 90 years old this month? Here he is playing “Move On” at the memorial service for Michael Bennett, who died during the AIDS pandemic:

 

How bad could it be where you are, here and now?

How good could it be to express gratitude to all those I appreciate, including YOU?