Missing Mundane

Being shut-in at home for weeks promotes introspection. The workday is longer and less interrupted. It is hard to notice the passage of time- before I realize it its the end of a week. While our lives ground to a halt, the trees went from bare to green outside. The school-yard remains ominously empty. I miss seeing the full parking lots and the school buses rolling in and out, the traffic - the mundane flow of ordinary days that has now become a dream we all waiting to come true. Used to be that you smiled at the passersby while running or walking. Now we just move as far apart as we can and don't make eye contact. The norms of distancing have gone beyond physical. 

I find myself counting every blessing I have had - being thankful I am able to stay at home, having all my friends and family be safe and well. I listen much more intently to others when the speak - suddenly we all have something in common. Our days and weeks are almost the same. We all hope for things to return to what they used to be. Being able to meet friends, go out to eat sometimes, travel for work and pleasure. The ordinary and even aggravating has now become filled with longing. Being stuck in rush-hour traffic, airport security, jostling for standing room in an over-crowded train and being told there is an hour wait to be seated at our favorite restaurant on a Friday night. How we wish those things could happen to us again. This not even counting the ability to give a friend a hug.