March 19, 2020

It’s Day 3

It’s taken me this long to get over the fear (and, apparently, misconception) of setting up my website to be a blog. I’ve been thinking for days that what’s going on in the world is so out of whack, so absolutely bonkers, that I can only process it by writing about it.

And that’s saying a lot, since I don’t do a lot of writing, uh, for fun.

Anyway, here’s what’s been knocking around in my head for the past 24 hours: Walking down the sidewalk with Alex as he tools along in his red pedal-powered tractor. I’m holding the dog’s leash in one hand, keeping him from sniffing everything we pass, and keeping Alex straight with the other. I look ahead and see someone coming toward us.

And I immediately freeze up.

Who moves over? How far can I get over, with child, tractor and dog? When did these sidewalks get so narrow, anyway?

For the record, I’ve never, ever considered sidewalks to be too narrow until this week. Right now. As the world feels like it’s so low on fumes that the “distance to empty” gauge is running into negative numbers.

Who moves over? Thankfully, the other person did. But if I wasn’t juggling kid and dog, the dance we did on the sidewalk to keep at least 6 feet apart would be much more awkward.

And it’s only day three.