Brave Deeds of Derring Do**

How very strange that taking a plane trip should count as an act of courage! But these are strange times. I got back on Friday from a plane trip! I considered it a brave and daring act.

 

 

I flew to DCA to visit my daughter's family. There were so many firsts on that trips. Well, the firsts since last March anyway. On the way there, I had a three hour layover in Detroit. I ate at the Longhorn Steakhouse in the airport --another feat of bravery, and something I hadn’t done since March of 2020. It was odd seeing all the bare naked unmasked faces. It felt like we were all looking around at each other. That peach tea, loaded potato soup, and chicken Caesar salad tasted a lot better that I ever thought they could.

 

 

 

When I got there, my daughter met me and we had a big hug. Another first-for-the-year. Then the grandkids! I hadn't seen those two grandsons in over a year. I got lots of snuggles and hugs and they fed me TONS of food. I think I gained 10 pounds. I insisted they give me hugs, and snuggled were all them. We have a couple of traditions which they had not forgotten one little bit. They crawl into bed with me in the morning and the little one chatters on and on while we huddle beneath the covers.

 

 

 

The other tradition is something we call Birdies. I don’t remember exactly how it started. I think I was trying to teach the older boy about birds, and what they eat. Maybe we were on the blowup bed when we had the conversation. At any rate, the “game” is that I’m the mama birdie and they are the babies. They hatch out of their eggs and I forage in the blankets for worms for them, if we’re robins. If we’re cardinals, I have to get bugs and seeds.

 

 

I flew home on Friday, having a stressful time of almost-missed flights, but I mad it. The next day Delta started filling the empty rows and middle seats that were left vacant on my flights. It'll be a while before I attempt that again, because of that. There are no requirements to be vaccinated or even test negative to fly domestically. I’m very glad I squeaked that trip in.

 

I feel like we’re traveling out of COVID, bit by bit!

 

 

Oh yes, I did one hour of editing on the trip one afternoon.

 

** late 16th century: from late Middle English dorryng do ‘daring to do’, used by Chaucer, and, in a passage by Lydgate based on Chaucer's work, misprinted in 16th-century editions as derrynge do ; this was misinterpreted by Spenser to mean ‘manhood, chivalry’, and subsequently taken up and popularized by Sir Walter Scott.

From https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/

 

 

All images from pixabay.com

Covid nights and days

Covid nights and days

 

How are you holding up? I think I’m barely making it and I think that’s true of a lot of people. I recently complained, online, about my weird sleeping habits lately and the likelihood that they’re related to depression and anxiety. I’m thankful for all the responses, which were so encouraging and sympathetic. I now know that I’m not alone in this. (It’s good to be a complainer sometimes.) My practice, when I’m down, is to make a list of good things. So, here goes~~ 

 

GOOD THINGS

The election

 

The vaccine

 

Two potential publications (those will turn into bad things if I get rejects, but I’m used to those)

 

My family (I dare anyone in the world to say they have a better one than I do)

 

My friends (ditto above)

 

My readers (I don’t even know all of them, but do hear from some of them sometimes—those are golden spots)

 

My present occupation/career/work, writing mysteries

 

My colleagues/fellow mystery writers, many of whom are friends, all of whom, as a group, are the best co-workers anyone could hope for

 

My health, such as it is. Good for my age, is what they say, I think. This includes my mental faculties, such as they are, too. Also good for my age.

 

My overall situation, being able to afford eat, drink, shelter, some presents for my kids and grands

 

Feel free to add to this list, or, better yet, make your own!

photo from morguefile.com

 

 

Here's How It Works for Me

Falling and Getting Up

originally posted at https://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2020/05/falling-and-getting-up.html

I’ve had a few life-altering experiences, as I’m sure most of us have. The most devastating ones have made me feel like the floor has been yanked out from under me. There was no stable place to walk. The earth beneath my feet had opened up and shown me a deep, dark abyss. Nothing was familiar.

That’s what it feels like when I go into depression. When I come out, I realize that there are still colors, and sounds—like birdsong and tree frogs, and bright things—like fireflies, stars, even a moon.

What has often gotten me through depression is the lists I’ve made, at the advice of my therapists. They are lists of what is good in my life.

Okay, so this plague has robbed us, stolen our lives. We are now living in a different historical era than we were a few short months ago. We’re in an unimaginable place. Unfamiliar. Hostile even. For me, I can clearly see that this intruder is out to kill me. I’m in the high-risk age group, and the bad-lung group, plus some mitochondrial stuff that doesn’t help. So I’m on the defensive. Many people don’t have to be so careful, or they think they don’t have to. Some healthy, young people have been fatally stricken, to everyone’s surprise.

Meanwhile, we’re learning to live in this alien landscape. We avoid crowds, or even, my case, most people. We pay attention and make sure everything is clean. We buy or make masks to protect each other (if we’re good people).

And that list? It’s still there. I still have many of the good things I’ve always had.

I have these.

-The love of my family, scattered across the country and even across the globe, into Europe.

-Many phone calls and other communication.

-The warm camaraderie of my writing colleagues online.

-An occupation I love, goals that keep me occupied, even when I can’t do everything I want to.

-Shelter, food, clothing, heat and AC, trash pickup.-Doctors at my beck and call by phone or video, or even face to face if I need to do that.

-The daily newspaper. (I know, that seems trivial, but I love the comics and puzzles.)

-So many books I haven’t yet read.-

-New books coming out all the time.

-My music, which I’ve neglected lately and am going back to in a small way.

-A spectacular yard, with roses and irises now, after a progression for the last couple of months, although those plants are really kicking up my allergies.

-Good neighbors who all keep track of each other.

---NEW: Social distancing walks with my local family, me on one side of the street, them on the other.

I don’t have these any longer:

-New episodes of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

-The news, which I used to watch, but no longer can.

-Dinner out with my kids and grandkids, and eating together at our houses.

-The joy of driving my grandkids to lessons and classes.

-Their hugs.

BUT, most of the items in the second list will come back in due time. And that first list is a lot longer.

What do you miss? What do you take joy in now? What are you looking forward to getting back…some day?

Images from Pixabay.com, Morguefile.com; roses are mine—aren’t they gorgeous?