Day 12 “healing”

our safe comfort zone / as often as we’ve been here / home has been healing

I took an unintentional break yesterday from poetry, as I’m training to cover one of the janitorial groups the company employs. I split my work day and wanted to write yesterday’s haiku then, but I was so tired. Monday I stayed up late reading and then writing a spontaneous blog post.

Also, yesterday’s prompt was a sad one, and I didn’t feel motivated to write more about missing hugs, home games of D&D, seeing my people and watching my babies (nieces, nephews, and goddaughter) grow up, and getting any slices of normalcy back.

So, I decided to skip it altogether and keep plugging along today.

Sitting on my couch since 4:45 this afternoon, I realized that I love our home and our life. Ant’s playing through Final Fantasy IX using a walk-through guide. I finished episode 84 of Critical Role’s Vox Machina campaign and am now the corresponding Talks Machina episodes. Moochy’s on the game chair, her chair of choice. Edward-head’s laying in the middle of the living room. I have coffee next to me now in my current favorite mug, a bright orange one from Bookworks in Pacific Grove.

Today’s theme is “healing” and sitting on my couch watching the behind-the-scenes show of the Critical Role show, I realized that, for as much as we’ve been here, being home as been healing.

I fought the quarantine so much in the beginning. Hear this first, guys, I am an introvert. After reading Quiet, I learned there was a word to describe me. (Thanks, Susan Cain.) I love home. I need to recharge.

But when the state-wide shelter-in-place went into effect, that sassy rebel strain that is within me, balked.

I grieved birthdays and hanging out with friends, home games of D&D, our annual trip to Dillon Beach and Petaluma for my birthday, most recently a debt-free celebration. Quarantine just amplified the things I struggle with already. Pre-quarantine, there was just a lot more to hide behind.

But, since we’ve been home more, we’re playing board games more often and watching movies. I’m writing all the time (thanks to these haikus) and we’re reading more often. We started paying into our retirement accounts. We spent the last 12 weeks up to our elbows in our local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) summer vegetable box. We bought a Weber and I’m learning to BBQ. We’ve had a few friends and my immediate family over. There have been lots of conversations between us about saving for a house, new-to-us cars, where would we move if we left California, and writing business dreams.

And so, being home has been healing.

How have you guys have found healing during this time?

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Things mentioned in this post:

• Quiet by Susan Cain
• Critical Role and Talks Machina
• BookWorks in Pacific Grove, Ca. If you’re taking a trip to Monterey, please visit this coffee shop and bookstore combo. It’s the best.
• Foothill Roots Farm. Literally our local farm. It’s right down the street from us. I love them.

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Writing Process Notes:

8-12-2020:

// Poem writing: 14 mins. Couch. Talks Machina episodes 12 and 13. Words: 88.

// Blog writing: because I ate a bowl of spaghetti and was watching Talks Machina, it took me 1.5 hours to write this. Words: 546.

// Total total time: TWO HOURS!