(Sunday Paper, Year V, Issue 39)

These past six months have been…a lot.

I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for anyone.

I can’t complain too much - personally I’ve been minimally impacted by the virus itself.

But the pandemic has, obviously, interfered with day-to-day life in terms of activities, seeing family, and other relatively small things.

There have been good days and bad days…some better than others, some worse than others.

None really stand out - except for one:

The day I put a nail in the wall for my masks.

Let’s make this clear right off the bat: I (this should be obvious, but I am going to finish the sentence because unfortunately it is not obvious for everyone and that is incredibly disappointing) am an advocate for wearing a mask. I wear a mask when I’m out and around people and I advocate for you to do the same.

But I hate the fact that we have to do it.

I’m sure most people do - it’s a constant reminder that what we’re living through right now is an unusual, uncertain, unfortunate situation.

But I had that realization a few weeks ago when I added to my mask collection (I previously only had the one Kathy sewed for me back in March), and realized I needed a place for my masks, now totaling three.

So I put a nail and hook in the wall in my office and hung the masks there the way I would hang my baseball caps to easily grab on my way out the door.

And that made me incredibly sad.

I hate that I now wear a mask more than I wear a baseball cap. (No particular reason for that, other than the fact that I don’t wear hats as much as I used to. But I am wearing masks now a lot more often than I used to…)

I hate that I have the thought, “Oh, the blue mask probably goes better with what I’m wearing today than the black mask.”

I hate that I have to remind the girls to bring a mask every time we go to a store or to dance or whatever…and I hate that inevitably one of us will still forget to grab a mask before we leave. (It’s me more often than it’s them.)

But it’s necessary.

I understand that.

So I still do it.

And I’m disappointed that there are so many people out there who aren’t doing their tiny part to help stop the spread and put this in the past.

That also makes me sad, as I look at the hook on my wall that is there only to hold the one thing that I can physically do to try to make things better right now.

Notes

*I haven’t been wearing a mask when I run. The nice thing about running around this part of Framingham is that most of the time there is no one else around, and when there is there is usually an opportunity to create enough distance between me and that person. It is rare but shocking when the other person doesn’t get out of the way - or allow me room to get out of the way - whether or not masks are involved.

*(I’ll add that when I rode my bike around Boston there were times it was congested enough that I realized it was definitely more appropriate to wear a mask around the streets of Boston than it was to wear it around the streets of Framingham.)

*Composting update: I love composting. It’s going very well. If you’re interested in getting in on the Framingham composting fun, let me know and I’ll hook you up with what you need to know.

*The Mets’ season comes to an end today. I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t disappointed that I don’t get to see them in the playoffs. But I am excited that there is some entertaining playoff baseball ahead. I honestly never thought this season would get to this point.

*If you’re curious (and I know you are), I will be rooting for the Tampa Bay Rays this post-season. They are a fun team for me to root for.

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