Do you remember a few months ago when we first became aware that the Covid 19 virus was entering the US?  That was before social distancing and face masks and daily death toll reports.  I recall making one of my weekly trips to the grocery store and finding there was no toilet paper and no cleaning products. I thought it was so strange and really didn’t have a clue why there were shortages. I also just added them back to my next weeks list and assumed I could get them later.

Here it is, 3 months later and the TP and cleaning products are still missing and a few other grocery items are only available on a limited basis, like eggs, milk, some meats and some frozen items.  Evidently people are stocking their freezers and leaving nothing for the rest of us poor freezerless shoppers.

What most people failed to realize was that some basic, essential services would also be put on hold.  Services like hair salons and gyms.  If we knew, we could have rushed to our favorite hair dresser and gotten a very short cut to last us through the pandemic. And we could have ordered some gym equipment on line so we could exercise at home for a few months. But, we didn’t think of it. Now there is no exercise equipment to be had and our hair has gotten so shaggy even our pets don’t recognize us anymore.  I wanted to add just one perfect quote to explain the importance of a good salon, but found several to share:

“A good stylist is cheaper than a good therapist.” Anonymous

“The most important thing a person can have, next to talent of course, is a good hairdresser.”  Joan Crawford

“It doesn’t matter if your life is perfect, as long as your hair color is.” Stacy Snaps Killian

That kind of sums it up.  I’ve seen photos on line of my friends with do it yourself hair cuts and colors. Some are OK and some are just plain funny. I’m holding off and just letting mine grow–down past my shoulders now and back to my college days look. I’m thinking what looked fine on me at 17 just doesn’t suit me anymore and I am hoping, when the salons reopen, my stylist doesn’t laugh too hard. But, what the heck, we all need a good laugh these days.

And, after I get my hair done, I’m going to see if I can still fit through the door at the gym.

“No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.” Hal Borland

Doesn’t it seem as if Spring takes forever to arrive?  The deep dark days of winter slug slowly by with snow storms and skies laden with clouds. A constant foreboding greets us each morning and, at days end, sends us to bed still wondering what horrors await us.

Well, there it is. Spring will arrive in its own good time and it seems that it creeps slowly for a while, then bursts through with gusto. Bare tree branches suddenly have buds, swelling quicker with each passing day. Bulbs start with a tentative breaking through the ground, then shoot skyward, putting on their flower buds, promising worlds of color and scent.

I try to enjoy each moment of spring, each flowering of the cherry and dogwood trees and each daffodil and tulip. While the weather stays cool, the flowers linger but as soon as the first hints of summer warmth arrive, the petals fall from the trees and the flowers bend their heads and wither. All it takes is one big rain storm with strong winds and the cherry petals swirl down like a snow blizzard.

After all the longing and waiting for Spring, it comes and goes in the blink of an eye. A metaphor for life. Appreciate it, enjoy it, use it wisely. Unlike the seasons, we have but one life, here and gone in the blink of an eye.

“Innocent sleep. Sleep that soothes away all our worries. Sleep that puts each day to rest. Sleep that relieves the weary laborer and heals hurt minds.”  Shakespeare

So many people have a nightly struggle with sleep. Not having enough time seems to be the biggest complaint. And then, when there is time, inability to fall asleep or stay asleep kicks in. What is causing these problems?  Are we really too busy in our daily life not to be able to squeeze out 6 to 8 hours for rest? Or do we place such a low priority on rest that we make sure not to allow time for the daily requirement our body needs to repair and rebuild?

I used to put off bed time because I knew as soon as I fell asleep, the worries of the day would catch up with me.  The brain has a funny way of doing this to us.  It never lets us off the hook when we try to push away troublesome events or ignore things that really require our attention. All the work that was left unfinished or the phone calls that weren’t returned somehow manage to pop up in the middle of the night to either wake us up or give us disturbing dreams.  How often I have just gotten up after a few hours of sleep and started working again simply to relieve the weight of work worry. And there were more than a few times I could not fall asleep because I was rerunning the events of the day in my mind. Not the good events, of course. No, the focus was always on the things I should have said when a fellow employee or the boss was out of line. And sometimes it would be a comment I should have said to a client to help them over a rough time or to better explain something to them.

But now that I am semi retired, sleep wraps around me like a warm blanket on a cool evening. I no longer have work worries and the only daily problems I have to face are decisions about what to eat or when to do laundry. I’m afraid to admit this but here it is. These days I not only get a good night’s sleep but also an hour nap after lunch. I wonder if I would have been a better, more alert worker if I could have had one of those daily after lunch naps. Too late to question it now, but somehow I think it would have been a good thing.

“The replenishing thing that comes with a nap–you end up with two mornings in a day”  Pete Hamill

With the Covid19 enforced limits on public entertainment, our media outlets are getting creative in hooks to keep us as viewers and/or listeners.

My own longing has been for the baseball season. There I was, finally finished with winter and looking forward with joy to the Cardinals’ season to begin. We were part way through Spring training when Bam! we were hit with the shutdown caused by Covid19. Professional ball players all over the U.S. were sent home from their winter training facilities and put on hold until the Commissioner felt it was safe to play ball again.

Many of us would rally each time it was hinted that maybe the leagues could play safely if the stands were empty.  Then the questions arose about the safety of the players. Would they need to stay in hotels away from their families for 4 months?  Would they need to be checked daily for temperature elevations or other symptoms of the virus?  Would they be able to eat meals together or would they have to have meals brought to their hotel rooms? And what about the players who didn’t think it would be right to play without an audience?

The baseball season was swiftly passing by with no resolution to the problem and Covid19 was showing no signs of going away any time soon. My baseball withdrawals were at an all time high and depression was starting to overtake me.

KMOX to the rescue! The local St Louis radio station that would normally air each Cardinals game through the season looked back in time and found some pretty good seasons to use for replay.  For the past two weeks, every evening at about 6:00 and noon on Sundays, the last month of the 2011 season is being replayed. Oh the joy of hearing Shannon and Rooney announcing the games with their familiar patter and the background noise of the fans, the crack of the bat, and the sometimes raucous sound of the organ. For those of you who do not remember that season, let me tell you it was magic! During that long summer, the Cardinals’ play had been wavering between excellent team work and disastrous slump. In a final rally, the team got ‘hot’ and raced toward a wild card pick. Sure enough, they made it! Yet their play was still somewhat dicey as they met the division place holders, the Milwaukee Brewers. That team had played with gusto all season and looked like a sure thing for the World Series and destined to be the champions. But, it was not to be. The Cinderella Cardinals desired to go to the Ball and rolled over the Brewers in 6 games. Total magic!

The replay of the season has not ended yet, and even though I know what will happen, I can’t wait to hear it all again.