Two weeks ago I drove home from work. Bored, tired, I wanted something to do.
I thought to myself, “Maybe I’ll go see a movie tomorrow afternoon on my day off.”
Then I remembered, “Oh, I thought I could see a movie, but I can’t.”
A few days later I wanted to grab a cup of coffee with my friend Peter. Or perhaps see if he wanted to have lunch. I was pumped.
“Oh, I thought, I can’t do that. We’re not allowed to dine out or sit together at a coffee shop.” I guess that was out, too.
I have a good friend from a previous job and I like to see him on a regular basis. He lives in Madison and is a great conversationalist and fun to have a few drinks with because we hound each other, tell funny stories and pretend like we know what is going on in the world.
“Oh, I thought, I can’t do that. We’re not allowed into a bar. I can’t meet him out somewhere to order an Old Fashioned.”
I got to thinking about church and upcoming services. “Oh, I thought, I can’t do that. We’re streaming them online. I’ll have to read father’s sermon again this week rather than hearing it in person and talking to friends in the congregation.”
I miss all those things, and more. I keep thinking, “Oh, I thought I could do that.” But I forgot. I can’t. We aren’t allowed to do those things now, and it depresses me. It’s a sad part of our condition with the virus circulating.
Without thinking, my mind considered going to a museum in Milwaukee a couple of weeks back. WHAT WAS I THINKING? “Oh, I thought, museums were one of the first public places shut down.” How could I have forgotten that?
This past week a couple of things changed. We are allowed to play golf. I got in some serious social distancing golf Thursday by myself in the rain, with one other group in front of me. I passed them halfway through the round and they drove way off to the side, probably because they were more scared that I might him them with an errant tee shot than anything else. We waved and shouted golfer support words to each other. It was nice.
I played again Friday with my younger brother and we did some social distancing while walking the course. Since we are both bad golfers, we stayed way away from each other trying to find our respective balls. But it was fun, and was our thing to look forward to last week.
This week, I’m sure there are going to be more situations where I say to myself, “Oh, I thought,” and then I’m going to remember I can’t do that right now. It’s tough. These things affect our emotional mindsets as our lives are constrained and we look for the positive in the darkness.
Things will open up. I know this. It takes time. It can be oh so hard to bear that in mind on a day-to-day basis.
Because we keep saying to ourselves “Oh, I thought I could do this,” only to remember we’re in a time of chaos and change, affecting our perspective and our fundamental expectations in life. At some point, when those thoughts occur to us, we will be able to do those things again. Until then, we have to recalibrate our expectations.
I thought to myself, “Maybe I’ll go see a movie tomorrow afternoon on my day off.”
Then I remembered, “Oh, I thought I could see a movie, but I can’t.”
A few days later I wanted to grab a cup of coffee with my friend Peter. Or perhaps see if he wanted to have lunch. I was pumped.
“Oh, I thought, I can’t do that. We’re not allowed to dine out or sit together at a coffee shop.” I guess that was out, too.
I have a good friend from a previous job and I like to see him on a regular basis. He lives in Madison and is a great conversationalist and fun to have a few drinks with because we hound each other, tell funny stories and pretend like we know what is going on in the world.
“Oh, I thought, I can’t do that. We’re not allowed into a bar. I can’t meet him out somewhere to order an Old Fashioned.”
I got to thinking about church and upcoming services. “Oh, I thought, I can’t do that. We’re streaming them online. I’ll have to read father’s sermon again this week rather than hearing it in person and talking to friends in the congregation.”
I miss all those things, and more. I keep thinking, “Oh, I thought I could do that.” But I forgot. I can’t. We aren’t allowed to do those things now, and it depresses me. It’s a sad part of our condition with the virus circulating.
Without thinking, my mind considered going to a museum in Milwaukee a couple of weeks back. WHAT WAS I THINKING? “Oh, I thought, museums were one of the first public places shut down.” How could I have forgotten that?
This past week a couple of things changed. We are allowed to play golf. I got in some serious social distancing golf Thursday by myself in the rain, with one other group in front of me. I passed them halfway through the round and they drove way off to the side, probably because they were more scared that I might him them with an errant tee shot than anything else. We waved and shouted golfer support words to each other. It was nice.
I played again Friday with my younger brother and we did some social distancing while walking the course. Since we are both bad golfers, we stayed way away from each other trying to find our respective balls. But it was fun, and was our thing to look forward to last week.
This week, I’m sure there are going to be more situations where I say to myself, “Oh, I thought,” and then I’m going to remember I can’t do that right now. It’s tough. These things affect our emotional mindsets as our lives are constrained and we look for the positive in the darkness.
Things will open up. I know this. It takes time. It can be oh so hard to bear that in mind on a day-to-day basis.
Because we keep saying to ourselves “Oh, I thought I could do this,” only to remember we’re in a time of chaos and change, affecting our perspective and our fundamental expectations in life. At some point, when those thoughts occur to us, we will be able to do those things again. Until then, we have to recalibrate our expectations.