Gratitude

Cartoon rendition of me,
a chubby, fair-skinned,
green-eyed, brunette-with-grey 
person, wearing a blue shirt.
The caption reads "GRATEFUL."

It's November, and in my country, that means Thanksgiving (which in my family is usually just an excuse to get together and stuff our faces). As with most things in 2020, it's... different this year. 

Only four of us will be there for the aforementioned face-stuffing, and it's the four who are together for dinner twice a week anyway; we don't go anywhere, don't see anyone, and have things delivered as much as possible. It's a very small bubble, essentially one household under two roofs a couple blocks apart.

Oh, Lizzy and I did go to the dollar store yesterday, double-masked and gloved, stripped off our gloves (the right way; we've known what we're doing since Laston's last illness) and disposed of them when we left the store, stripped off our clothes and masks in the laundry room by the back door, and washed them right away. We wiped down car handles and controls with disinfectant wipes in between things, washed our hands obsessively, got sanitizer into paper cuts. 

And Mom and I went to Costco during what she calls "old lady hours" today (I'm not for another eight years, apparently, but she is, and I was there to lift things in and out of carts), but Costco has their cleaning protocols down to an art form. I felt much safer at Costco than I did at Dollar Tree. Not that the folks at Dollar Tree don't try to keep it clean, but the aisles are narrow and people stand too close.

But these are huge productions, with huge precautions taken, because there's a spike in the 'Rona in our area. It's like preparing for battle - or in my area, snowfall - to even get out the door to go further than the mailbox. 

And it's not like there's a lot else for me to do to keep my brain busy. I'm low in seniority at work, so I don't yet have an interim assignment while the students are not in school buildings. I am on the committee for Racial and Educational Justice for that team, though, and that's nice; I get to learn and grow and interact with my peers. Right now another team member and I are compiling a list of words and phrases that are in our everyday speech but have seriously icky or racist or sexist or ableist origins, and some suggestions of what to use instead. So there's that. And I just this minute got some good news about a quickie writing gig! But that won't use up all that many hours or pay all that much money, though whatever I manage is certainly welcome.

In any case, yes. I am grateful. 

I am grateful that Biden/Harris won, though I'm sure the Loser in Chief will still make a stink and I have reservations about how well we can, as a country... progress. But it's better than the alternative.

I am grateful that we're all basically healthy.

I'm grateful that we're safe and together and will continue to be, and that though of course we will miss the larger family at holiday meals, they have promised to Zoom in for dessert.

At least this year the tiny-yet-constant fretful feeling of "did someone cut Abby's apple pie with the knife they used on the pecan?" is not an issue.