Thursday, 25 February 2021 ????

 

 

Thursday?  Yeah, it is Thursday. Thursday? Absolutely. You put the recycling out together with the trash yesterday and you brought both bins back in empty.  Trash happens on Wednesday.  Thursday…uh?  Did I really do the trash yesterday?  Yes, I am sure.  Absolutely, it is Thursday.

 

Thursday confusion does not stand alone.  I retired thirteen months ago.  The pandemic swung into full force eleven months ago.  As a retiree I no longer have the requirements to go to work. Given my age and health I don’t go to church on Sunday.  In fact, I can watch this week’s sermon anytime on YouTube.  As a result of these things, I have no mandatory appointments. Thus, the demarcation between weekends and weekdays and weekdays one from another have all kind of melted away.  In the before times, I might have had must see viewing on TV.  But we gave up on cable about five years ago and instead watch streaming services for content.  No real days of appointment there.

 

My days are marked with sunrise and sunset; also they are marked with snow.  If it has snowed, I have about ½ hour of communing with my SnoJoe battery powered snowblower in the dawn’s light.  Occasionally I have to try and break up the ice dams formed at the roofs edge. Time measured in terms of days, weeks and months has faded for me.

 

Time measured in things I must do each day has become more acute.  I must get up.  I must take my morning medication.  I must take my 45-minute walk (at this point midday because of the cold weather).  I must empty the trash, do the dishes, do the laundry, make the bed, etc.  Each of these tasks has a time during the day when routine dictates I do it. 

 

Truth be told I am not unhappy measuring time in this manner.  I don’t get antsy or anxious because we are not ready and, in the car, heading off to work so as to be there by 8 AM. Might be a New Jersey or an east coast thing but I always wanted to be going to where ever I had to be with way plenty of time to spare, just in case.

 

The pandemic will fade.  I am not sure my attitude about time will.