Dis Traction

Good news.
Count your blessings.
This too shall pass.
And so on.
John Krazinski, perhaps better known to you as Jim from The Office, has taken to the YouTubes over the past several weeks to spread Some Good News. There are stories about people helping others, as well as semi-frequent celebrity guest stars. Brad Pitt does the weather. Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey deliver commencement wisdom to the quarantined class of 2020. And a plethora of life-affirming moments that vacillate between the quiet and mundane to the celebrity cameo.
I believe this works so well because we are all starved for feeling. Feeling something other than fear and loneliness and confusion and despair. This notion of "returning to normal" is not felt by just the armed militia making sure the hairdresser in Texas can stay open. The majority of us who are sitting on our couches waiting for the all clear would like to have a taste of this elusive "normal." We can get this sensation from looking at others going about their business, whether it is talk show hosts broadcasting from their living rooms or stars coming out to raise money for PPE or food banks or long cotton swabs. Seeing familiar faces at this point is a premium since we don't tend to see one another's faces unless they are obscured by a mask.
Hugs and smiles are in ridiculously short supply. That is the state of things currently. Finding ways to bring something that feels alive into a room that has not changed for more than two months is a difficult task. That's why, on Mother's Day, I went to the trouble to inflate a number of flotation devices in our living room. A flamingo, a unicorn and a big yellow duck swallowed up the floor space for most of the day until the slow leak from our flamingo friend brought an end to the festivities. The good news there was that we didn't have to stay six feet away from our inflatable friends, and when they ran out of air, we just folded them back up and put them back in their boxes. Eventually we will have to come up with a new distraction. Something frivolous or silly to keep from slipping back into the vortex of sameness.
I am suddenly reminded of those exercises to which astronauts have been subjected in anticipation of lengthy space voyages. Could you stand being cooped up with the same two people for months at a time? Bring your best conversational gambits and a forgiving spirit and hop aboard the rocket ship to Mars. Maybe Oprah will stop by.