Terrible first times

I don’t know about you, but this is my first effing global pandemic.” ~ Brené Brown

I want my old normal back. I can’t count the number of times, before this whole mess, that I texted someone the words “same ole same ole” when asked what I’m doing or what’s going on. Is complacency a sin? Cause I did that. I’d take a little “same ole” right about now.

If you haven’t heard of FFTs, you need to check into them. Or TFTs, if that better suits. Look up Brené Brown and you will be enlightened to this universal truth and the meaning behind those acronyms.

For this small-town publication, I’ll stick with the family-friendly TFTs or “Terrible First Times.” This is all the stuff we’ve never done and suddenly have to figure out. Things like social distancing, learning how online school works, Lysoling the tongues of our shoes, parenting kids during school hours, adulting in general, etc.

I’d like to combine a couple of those: parenting adult children who are learning how to adult themselves. And then tack on “from a distance with a virus shutting down life as we know it.”

That’s kind of a TFT.

I do miss my adult child even more than usual and if I had my way, I’d kidnap her and throw her into a single room with her sister, far away from the dangers of the world. This concept hasn’t worked yet and I’m leaning into the possibility it never will.

I feel we’re slowly amping up into what may come with COVID-19. All the buzz words (peak, the curve, shelter in place) make that clear. Part of me feels apprehensive to point out the good things coming from this because how can there be good things in this unknown time?

But there are good things, I’ve seen them. The ones I’m going to mention are small and insignificant things, but remember how much we all want normal back?

One is Tik Tok. I know it’s been a thing for a while but not for me. My adult child turned me on to it and now I’m blowing up her phone with the best ones because you can’t fully enjoy these things without forwarding them to someone else. Sorry, not sorry.

Another is SGN, the youtube news site “Some Good News” from John Krasinski. I laughed, I cried. Not unlike watching him in The Office. Having said that, he interviewed Steve Carrel. Enough said, Office fans.

A third is “‘rona” memes*. I can’t get enough and they get funnier all the time. This is the first time I can truthfully say I love Facebook.

*I can’t type that in good conscience without an asterisk. I know this virus—the ‘rona as it’s called lately—is serious stuff, but the memes are seriously funny.

As so many of the people I love are too far away with an unknown end date leading the way, I’m going to go ahead and grab onto these insignificant small things and obsess over them for a while.

Just like I used to in the distant “same ole same ole” days.

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