Social Distancing by Car

Today, husband and I thought we'd drive around and see our friends and family--from a safe distance, of course. We'd been stuck in for a long time and figured everyone could use a little socializing. It was a beautiful day, the first warm one in weeks and it felt good to be outside. We put the top down and basked in the sun. 

First stop, to drop off a book for someone. Husband dropped the book on his friend's doorstep. As we left, he came out of his house, and we waved. That errand took us to a very pretty, old neighborhood. Less than a mile from where I live, but I'd never been on those streets before. We had fun ending up in cul de sacs, enjoying the near-empty streets. Until we remembered why. I had made us some masks from scarves, oh, you know about that already. We had them ready in case we needed to go into a store or ran into a crowd.

We stopped by and saw our buddy on her balcony. She will be 96 in a month, still thrives, living alone. She could only give us 3 minutes.

After dropping off the book and some wandering, I called a friend so we could see her in her beautiful garden of a front lawn. I figured she'd be glad of a little company, from six feet away. 

She wasn't home, nor did she pick up the phone. I called another, figuring how could they also be busy in the time of Corona. No answer.

Then we went to our daughter's house. She was there with the two boys. But they were "in school" on their computers, and barely could wave to us. The youngest, 6, was even doing PE on Zoom.  Red Light/Green Light, or something. 

The older one was doing math. Then our daughter had to go because she had a conference call in a few minutes and had to gather her wits, or thoughts or something. It was very pleasant in her beautiful backyard, for the few minutes we were there.

Then we called our son. He was on an important call, but our daughter-in-law would come out with our littlest grandson. We got there and walked around their neighborhood for a bit. When she came out, alone, she waved apologetically and devoted herself to an obviously important and lengthy business call. 

After about 15 minutes, our son and the baby came out, and we chatted and watched Mr. Adorable coo and laugh and even try walk (he's 8 mo. old). Then Dad had to go back inside for 

another business call and Mom's phone rang. 

I was hungry. We'd pick up something from a local restaurant and sit on the grass somewhere. I was jonesin' for a salad. I looked at the online menus. No salads.

I was feeling quite a bit of social distance.

Is everyone busy but me?