📷: April 1, 2020 – Self Portrait

The hottest fashion accessory is a face mask.

Wow.

Ok –

Didn’t think I’d be writing a blog post recapping my month in the midst of a global pandemic. Yeah, – me and the rest of the world. Not the first outbreak that’s run its course in the newsroom, but the first to cause a global economic shutdown and mass death in my lifetime. Swine flu, Bird flu, MERS or SARS, all viral scares that never amounted to statewide “stay-at-home” mandates. Wow, life is really weird right now.

Scrolling through Instagram stories and seeing a co-worker’s birthday being celebrated by her friends’ in masks dropping off gifts that include a pack of Charmin on her front porch. This is 2020.

Yeah, this is the state of the world. Italy is shut down. Disneyland is closed. Coachella has been moved to October. The hottest fashion accessory is a face mask.

Roses and Thorns for March…

Rose: Going to Joshua Tree with my best friend

Thorn: Coronavirus

The week before shit really hit the proverbial fan, when we all thought just practicing good hygiene would control the spread, my best friend and I went to Joshua Tree for the weekend. We packed cleaning supplies to clean the Airbnb. I had alcohol wipes in my car that we used every time we touched something – but admittedly we weren’t diligent enough. We still went into retail stores mindlessly picking up knickknacks that caught our eye, standing close to strangers, and behaving as normal. Our casual shopping behavior a clear indication as to why shutting down non-essential services is so crucial to flattening the curve.

You don’t realize how much you touch when window shopping.

I feel terrible for the retailers, restaurants, bars – all of the businesses that have been impacted by this pandemic. The weight of the pain, stress, turmoil, and suffering on top of all the existing wrongs in the world… it’s suffocating, unbearable. I’ve sobbed. I’ve been in mourning. And I’m one of the lucky ones.  

Our Joshua Tree adventure was nothing short of magical. We stayed up all night talking about nothing and everything. A true old school sleepover with your best friend, but instead of being thirteen we are in our thirties. We bared witness to a stunning sunset. Enjoyed an indoor fire. I drank coffee and drew a landscape with crayons on the porch in the early morning sun. A weekend that represented the 180 degree opposite of what is our current environment under the shadow of COVID-19

I’ve been trying to stay busy and positive; painting, reading, taking on a big project at work. I also can’t seem to exercise with my personal trainer without feeling intense bouts of rage. Definitely not a spiritual guru who is grounded and just seeing the light in all of the darkness, immune to the cacophony of chaotic energy that is reverberating in our universe.

Struggle is real.

But struggle makes us stronger.

So cheers to beast mode, and the big Aries / Taurine energy that will get us through April.

p.s. I auditioned for a game show in March (virtually, over a Skype call) with my sister. I thought that was pretty funny considering my last Snail Mail, monthly check-in, was titled – Game Show Contestant Enthusiasm.