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One Year Without the Writers Shed and More
My writer’s group chose A Typical Day in the Pandemic as March 2021 prompt. It was an opportunity to reflect on the COVID-related things that impacted my life in the previous year.
I had a flight booked to Costa Rica for March 2020. The airline canceled it a week before the departure date. I missed the hugs from family and friends waiting for me and the foods and things I do every time I visit the country. The aroma of corn tortillas with fresh cheese. The sweet papaya that makes me remember the morning breakfasts for months after the trip. The movie from the car passenger’s seat featuring the green mountains in the Central Valley, the brown planes in the north of the country, and the cute towns on the way to the beach. The warm sand under my back during the beach naps while I listen to the calming whisper of the waves coming and going.
The empty shelves in grocery stores provided the Pandemic’s first shocking experience for me. Fortunately, my small family did not have to buy the amount of toilet paper that most American families needed in the first weeks of the Pandemic. I couldn’t find a hand sanitizer. Instead, I bought an expensive French hand liquid soap available in the store. It wasn’t the best hand sanitizer, but I enjoyed the lavender scent every time I washed my hands.
