PANDEMIC DIARY

WHAT DO WE TALK ABOUT?
November 14, 2020

"What do we talk about?”

“What do you mean”

“I mean, ‘what do we talk about’ when our President elect becomes President. Today, I am meeting with Marla and tomorrow I see Edna, Val and Cheryl. I’ve pretty much gotten over the fact that we will have a transition, and that the next 60 days will be disruptive, hopefully in some less than disastrous way,
and that there will be work to do and other causes to advocate for, but the fear and anticipation, the loathing and acrimony is already fading in noticeable ways - my shoulders are not up by my ears; my heart rate seems to have slowed; and, I see you, my husband, not as some onstage prop where the star actor is always center stage and screaming at the top of his lungs. No, the “Star” is gruffly walking offstage never to return, leaving me to realize who the male lead was all along. My hero. For the first time in four years, I wondered what my girlfriends and I will talk about now that the Orange Bogeyman is almost done with.”

“What did you talk about before the scoundrel took office.”

“That’s what I was attempting to recall. Maybe nothing much at all. Maybe it didn’t matter. We love being together, feeling that connection, laughing at the silliest of remarks, sympathizing about a loss, lauding an accomplishment, cheering each on through one of life’s many obstructions and challenges.”

“Well, you can still contribute all those aspects of yourself.”

“Yes, I know. But it still feels as if some air has been let out. Like a late night television host who has lost the object of his or her ire, lost the set up, lost the punchline and is left having to make jokes about Harry and Meghan. What will ‘HO-HUM’ feel like?

“By ‘HO-HUM’, I’m guessing you mean NORMAL?” And, normal is EASE. And EASE…is, well…normal.” Or should be.”

“I think I can accept that. But, in time. I would like to see normal return, but only after retribution. I want to be witness to a reckoning, an elongated, financially bankrupting, ego-costly, humiliating bloodletting, a family breakdown, incarceration, a popular rejection, a comeuppance, a public pummeling…ending…in…an ‘altering’..available on CNN.”

“How lady-like of you.”

“And, we need to remember that normal cannot mean indifferent or disinterested or apathetic. Ease is the culmination of hard work, the ability to let go following purposeful intention. We can no longer be complacent.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

(she becomes pensive) “You know, you were right.

“Oh, Yeah?”

“Yes. Now I am at ease. And, all feels normal. Thank you. I didn’t know what to think about this situation. You were a big help.”

“But, I…I didn’t say…”

(she kisses me) “You’re a dear.” (she leaves and on the way out)

“But, I, didn’t…”

{DISCLAIMER: The scene is wholly fiction; the characters made up. This was not an actual conversation)