Corona Letters #33

Dear Fellow Quarantiners,

I think this quarantine has made us all go out of our comfort zones a bit.   Sometimes we find ourselves doing things that we don't normally do out of necessity, boredom or maybe a combination of the two.   I am curious how many of us will continue to do these things once the world opens up a bit, or if we will just revert back to our old ways.   I'm guessing like most things, it will be a little bit of both.

Here is a list of things that I've done over quarantine that I wouldn't normally do, or had maybe never done:

1.  Dyed my hair purple.  I'm not the hair dyeing type.  I let myself go grey years ago, not to make a fashion statement but because I didn't want to bother with the upkeep.  Then I started to embrace my grey and kind of shrugged my shoulders at the whole dyeing thing.   But with the whole quarantine thing, I just decided to dye my hair purple because, why not?

2. Have gone multiple days without showering.   I've always been a shower every day kind of gal.
It helped me wake up and feel fresh.   When the quarantine first started, I started taking showers in the evening when my day was through.  Then I missed a shower or two and nothing bad really happened, so it kind of became a new habit.

3. Have worn the same clothes for multiple days.   Kind of like my shower, I used to change my clothes every day.   Why did I do this?  Turns out that it takes at least three days (sometimes more) for clothes to really take on a pungency.  I'm taking full advantage of this new found knowledge.   Also, I've discovered during this quarantine that you can wear the same clothes that you slept in so you literally can wear the same thing for days.  This has been quite the revelation.

4. I can cut hair.   I did not say I can cut hair WELL, but I can cut it.   I've cut both my husband's hair and our dog's hair during this quarantine and neither of them complained too loudly.   This saved our family about $150 in grooming costs.   This is something to consider when this is all over.  I've also come to the conclusion that brushing my own hair isn't really necessary.  If it gets matted I can just use the hair clipper to cut out any knots.  Sure my hair looks a little uneven, but who sees me?

5.  I've met some lovely neighbors.  It turns out there are some nice people in my neighborhood, other than my friends, that I've never met before.    I walk by and admire their gardens and they thank me for my compliments.   Sometimes they seem to stare at my wrinkled, stained clothes that I've been wearing for three days or my awkward haircut, but I'm sure we will be great friends when this is all over.

6. I've explored new neighborhoods on my walks and bike rides.  I used to limit myself to the bike path but now in the name of social distancing I've started expanding my horizons and have started exploring new areas.  It's nice to get to know my town, and its side streets better.   And sure, a few people have told me that I should stay off their streets because my smell is "off putting" and I've scared a few children with my strangely cut, bright purple hair who think I'm some kind of coronavirus clown from their nightmares, but all and all it is going very well.

7.  I get a lot of alone time.  Even though I live in a house full of people, I get plenty of alone time.
My family encourages me to spend as much time as possible in my room with the door closed.  They even leave food by the door, knock three times, and then run off before I can even answer the door.
They are so respectful of my need for space.  Sometimes they even leave a bath bomb with a note attached saying, "Use This.  Please."   Clearly, they want me to have some me time in the tub, like a mini spa day.  Aren't they just the sweetest?  Don't tell them, but I'm using the bath bombs as bowling balls to knock down all the bowling pins I've made out of my own ear wax.  Creative, right?

8.  I've become an expert at ordering take out.   Sometimes my family forgets to leave food by my door and they just leave me a note saying, "You can come down and join us for dinner when you've showered and changed your clothes."  I know they just want me to find a creative way to get my own food.   Luckily I have my credit card number memorized so I just call the local take out place and tell them to leave the food in the basket that is beneath my bedroom window.  Then I can just yank it up with the pulley system I jury rigged.   They deliver beer and wine too.   I'm glad my family is giving me this chance to figure all this out.

9.  I've learned that drinking a lot of beer and wine and eating a lot of greasy take out makes me really gassy.  I mean REALLY gassy.   My husband has started sleeping in the guest room.  I guess he wants me to be comfortable in our queen sized bed by myself.  He is so considerate.

10.  I think I'm winning at social distancing.  No one comes within 20 feet of me, and even then they  do they wear masks, and spray disinfectant in my direction.  I may have just found the best way to avoid coronavirus.