A COVID CHRISTMAS

 

This holiday season has a depressing watered down feeling. The Christmas events I enjoyed in the past were not around this year. And the theatres remain closed! There was no getting together with friends for our holiday lunches. We are all women of a certain age and high risk.

Our governor is a Trump turd who has never had a plan to deal with the pandemic other than to ignore it same as his master who thankfully will soon be vacating the White House.

My circle of friends already small is shrinking -- unless you count Facebook friends which don't count! They should be labeled as acquaintances and most aren't even that!

I value my true friends because they're people I choose to have in my life opposed to those who've been forced upon me: relatives, in-laws, step-relatives. Most of whom I'd never gravitate to in the first place. Thankfully most in that category are out of my life for good now!

It's wonderful and welcome news that a vaccine will soon be available. But as for myself, I'm leery of taking it. I learned the hard way I'm allergic to codeine and I suffered every miserable side effect possible with Paxil. Plus I experienced withdrawal symptoms just like a junkie when I quit. I was taking both drugs under a doctor's care! So no thank you to the vaccine!

I figure if everyone else takes it, I won't need to. I'll just continue to wear a mask and social distance until the virus is gone. Even before the pandemic I was a happy hermit.

However with the new stronger strain coming out of Great Britain I may change my mind. We'll see when the vaccine becomes available.

Besides the supermarket, the only place I go these days is to the dentist. At the rate my teeth are cracking soon I'll have more crowns than natural teeth. And no, I don't munch on rocks!

The dentist asked if I chewed ice. I said I'd be alarmed if I did! Both my mother and a favorite aunt developed a craving for ice when they came down with terminal cancer. Why my teeth keep cracking remains a mystery to me!

 A friend pointed out that I've had these teeth since I was a small child and to be grateful they lasted almost 70 years. However I was told by a dentist when I was young that if I took good care of my teeth (which I do) they would last a lifetime. -- I am not ready to die at age 70.

Amongst my emails was a Christmas card from the hotel in Bangkok where I stayed in 2016, my favorite, and the one where I began and ended my tour of Thailand. It was a delight to open!

Last night on PBS I watched the Vero Beach Ballet perform Nutcracker on the Treasure Coast. It was exciting to see knowing all those talented performers were local people. And the costumes were amazing!

Like everyone else, I will heave a big sigh of relief when the pandemic ends.

 I miss wearing lipstick! It brightens up my entire face. I miss getting dressed up all fancy and meeting friends for lunch in a nice restaurant. Heck, I even miss paper towels with Christmas designs! Finding any at all has been a challenge in recent months.

Sadly, many restaurants I enjoyed will not be reopening and they will be missed. But now I'm used to savoring a lot of special meals at home that I prepare myself.

Once the Christmas tree goes up the healthy diet goes right out the window! But hey, the food is part of the holiday! However I am determined to exert some discipline and use portion control.

I don't want to end up like the 400 lb woman who went for a swim and was sexually assaulted by a herd of manatees. They mistook her for one of their own and tried to mate with her. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! It happened recently in Fort Pierce only minutes south of here.  

2020 will be a year to remember for all the wrong reasons. Let's hope better things are heading our way now that it's ending.

One day the virus will be gone, but I doubt life can return to the way it was, it will be a different normal.