A Look On The Lighter Side: Simple pleasures for tricky times

Judy Epstein

Here’s one tiny silver lining to the life we are currently living: when your phone rings, it is much more likely, these days, to be an actual person; a relative or friend – someone you’re happy to hear from!

RING! “Judy, how are you?”

It was a friend from recent workdays. “So good to hear from you!” I told her. “We’re alive here, but it’s so lonely!”

“Me, too, that’s why I called!”

“Tell me,” I asked her, “what are you doing to keep your spirits up?”

“I just came from gardening.”

“Gardening?! But you live in an apartment …on the 3rd floor!”

“Yes, but I have an egg carton that I finished the eggs from, and some potting soil from a bag I meant to add to the ficus.”

“And what are you planting?”

“I sent away for some seeds,” said my green-thumbed friend, “but in the meantime, I had some dried beans that I was soaking — to cook with, you know — and I decided to pop a few of them into the dirt, and put the whole thing near a window. It’s something to watch, at least.”

“And when they grow into beanstalks?”

“I’ll climb up them, of course! How about you?”

“The darnedest thing happened the other day. You know how you used to make fun of my wardrobe, being just ‘grey long-sleeved turtleneck from LLBean; maroon turtleneck from Land’s End; rinse; repeat’?”

“We were all aware, Judy….”

“And you can’t see it these days, but the cuff on one of those sleeves had come unraveled….”

“Actually, I was aware of that, too.”

“Well, a grocery delivery was due later that day, and I didn’t want that sleeve flopping around onto anything we hadn’t disinfected, so I grabbed a needle and thread and sewed it up.”

“You can sew?”

“Yeah, well, it looked like one of those cadavers on CSI,” I confessed, “but it held. Then I ran out of time and just used duct tape on the other sleeve. But here’s the point: for the length of time I was busy sewing, I actually forgot about the pandemic!”

“Because you made your world a little bit better?”

“Sure…but probably more about working with my hands.”

“Good point! Think I’ll try that.”

Ring!
It’s another friend. She and her husband sold their house, a few years ago, to just go RVing around the country. Right now, she was bored, out walking the dog.

“How can you go far enough to get bored?” I asked her.

“Oh, we’re out West, and there’s nobody out here. That’s the good and the bad of it.”

“Can you send me some pictures?”

“Of course! I was afraid to before — afraid it might feel like I’m rubbing it in or something.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I assured her. “I just want to live vicariously!”

So she’s been sending me photos from her phone and I have to say, it’s like having a magic window on the world. Just one problem: I can’t hate the internet, or smartphones, any longer!

I decided to make a few phone calls, myself, to see how folks were doing (and collect any good time-wasting ideas).

“Judy! It’s so good to hear your voice! Wait a minute —”

I heard a slight thumping noise.

“Darn it!”

Then I heard another thump, with a little crash.

“What was all that?” I asked, alarmed.

“I’m going after ants,” she said. “They’re all over the floor, right near the dog’s food dish. Who knew ants liked dog food?”

“I’ve got ‘em too!” I said. “But we don’t have dog food — or a dog. They’re just all over the sink, all of a sudden, and all the dirty dishes!”

“What about the clean dishes?”

“What clean ones? I’m too busy chasing ants!”

“I guess it’s something to do,” said my friend. “Judy? Are you still there?”

“Sorry, I got a little distracted … I’m watching this ant getting closer and closer to my coffee maker. Got him! Oops, there’s two more….”

“Hey, now that there’s no sports, you could make a Youtube out of it!” suggested my friend. “ ‘Which ant will reach Judy’s coffee cup first? Will it be the little one that’s faster moving? Will he actually fall into the coffee? And will she drink it anyway?’ ”

BAM! “It’s a dead heat,” I reported. “I got them both, with this book: ‘100 Things To Do Before You Die.’ They never saw it coming.”

Everyone I spoke with is going crazy in isolation. At least after we chatted, we realized we could go crazy together. And since the bar for entertainment is so low, everyone’s glad to hear from you!

It’s a silver lining for these crazy times.

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