It won’t be forever

This morning my mom reminisced about her younger self -bodysuits, jumpsuits, and polyester wide-leg pants. She told me how, at eighty-three, she only likes loose fitting clothes.

It won’t be forever

This stay-at-home order is making us unable to dine in restaurants. We are as close as possible to our house-indoors.

It won’t be forever

I tell myself just as our bodies have changed, our clothes styles have changed, this too, the pandemic will pass, and we will go back to – what?

It won’t be forever

But I don’t know what is next. I don’t hate using the bedroom as an office or sitting in my favorite recliner. Or the time I spend standing at the door of an open refrigerator peering in at what food to eat each day. I’ve added lots of fruits – watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, seedless grapes. And lots of vegetables – radishes, yams, carrots, potatoes, zucchini.

It won’t be forever

We will still wear masks after the vaccine, but we will move on with less fear, although some caution.

It won’t be forever

The wearing of sweatpants, baggy shirts, no underclothes. The meeting up with friends on Zoom. The writing groups. Church broadcast on YouTube.

It won’t be forever

Hearing my husband talk to the people he supervises. Talking them through their frustrations, their workload, their overtime.

It won’t be forever

This pause in how we were living – the race to do more, buy more, take more pictures of the flashiest, artsiest, most fashionable things on Instagram. Putting the brakes on won’t be forever, but it’s given us a shakeup. A time to reflect. A time to go inward, and although

It won’t be forever

The impact of it will last for the rest of our lives.