The past week of isolation has been the toughest so far. As I said at the beginning of the week, I had decided to embrace more complete lockdown protocols, so I cut out my daily walk to the store and my outdoor bike ride. Thus I was in the house alone all day every day. And to compound the feeling of loneliness, we had several days of rain virtually all day, making it impossible to take a walk around the block at night or even go out on my balcony for any length of time. All this contributed to a pretty significant case of cabin fever, and a very cranky boy.
But this morning was sunny, and I decided at breakfast that it was time to make a (safe) break for it. I locked myself up in the (comparatively) safe atmosphere of my car, and drove for about an hour. I drove through Santiago Canyon where I was able to see the beginnings of springtime green on the hills, and driving all the way down to the oceanfront in Laguna I followed the coast up to Corona Del Mar before turning right back toward home. Though I never left my car, I felt freer than I have in a week.
Just looking at the sun and blue sky through my window this afternoon, I can’t help but feel hopeful, that sometime this time will come to an end. Though I suspect I will still be locked in until the end of the month at best, I could feel the broader world around me again. I know this Hope is as irrational as the despair I felt earlier in the week, but I’ll take it for today and hope that you might have a bit of hope as well.
Be safe, be strong.