Re-opening, I'm calling it opening up.

We are coming to the other side of quarantine and I’m feeling like we were in a bubble for a very long time.

I went to my dance class and then to dinner and double feature in the theatre on March 14.

A day later we were being asked to not go anywhere unless we needed too.

The grocery store immediately changed, toilet paper became one of the biggest commodities, businesses began shutting down and the crafty peeps were figuring out a way to make masks. In the meantime, tutorials began to pop up with DIY masks out of a bandana. I still have my DIY mask and have added a few more hand made ones to my collection. You need more than one because you have to wash after every wear.

The friend I went to dinner and the movies with on March 14 texted me on the 15th with bewilderment telling me not to tell anyone that we went to the movies. Embarrassed and feeling silly I haven’t mentioned it, unless in jest until a week ago. Almost 12 weeks later we are now coming out of that bubble. And it’s hard to tell what life is going to be like. There’s the phrase ‘new normal’ which is almost as bewildering as the feeling of packing your own groceries with your own reusable bags again.

I turn my face away from people on the street, wear a mask inside any kind of store I’m going into.

Value Village has re-opened and always being on the lookout for clothing to repurpose for my drawings I have visited 3 in the past two weeks. I felt weird going inside, even with hand sanitizer, respecting social distance, and wearing a mask. Everyone and everything feels different.

I have brought routine into my life, one key integral thing for me to do every day is getting my 10k steps in. So I have been walking, talking, and finding a sterile way to connect with those around me. In the early stages I felt a slip down the slippery depression highway after a day I choose not to go outside. I knew I had to nip that in the bud and get off my ass. No matter how I was feeling and sure enough I got going again. It helped to plan a route and then also seeing people on my walk who were familiar and who became familiar.

This routine is on top of my regular meditation, smoothie, and yoga before getting a jump on my day.

I feel weird now out in the world, do you?

I found ways to keep busy during this time and feel myself undergoing a large transition of growth as we move into this future we are all wondering how is going to take shape.