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Short Pause

The Rip Van Winkle of our day comes out of his silent retreat to discover social distancing. Reading this made me think about the many ways a person could be afforded an escape. One would be to go off the grid and stay that way for a a couple of years. Assuming they had enough supplies and largely self-sufficient it is not impossible. They could write the modern day Walden while at it. 

Another way would be some form of amnesia where a person loses time or memory or both. That would afford them a way to stay in the past and not connect with what is going on all around. Not ideal but still an escape. My friend D's father is currently in this state. With his dementia his life is no bed of roses but atleast he does not understand that he was tested positive for covid or that it is a bit of a miracle that he also made a recovery from it. The old man was spared a lot of anxiety given his trouble with memory. 

Some days, when I wake up in the morning, random thoughts of ordinary days from years past come to mind - the time when we made travel plans for Spring Break in less than 24 hours and ended up having a great time. The time when we went to watch a local band playing in music in a park. The time we got together at T's for dinner and the her husband told a joke that had everyone in splits. The time when we went to the farmer's market and got some strange looking squashes. So many mundane things that seem miraculous and wonderful now. 

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