Yesterday, my husband and I put stamps on 200 postcards we wrote urging voters in Wisconsin to get out and vote (or stay in and vote if they can!) in that state’s April 7 primary. I’m a bit of two minds about this now, when I know how important it is to maintain social distance. But voting is, to me, both a right and a responsibility.
The last public place I went was to my polls two weeks ago, and I went after I already had cloistered myself at home in every other circumstance. I went as early in the day as possible (to avoid crowds), voted mostly with my gloves on, and still used hand sanitizer when I was done. But I went, and I voted, because my opinion matters and my vote counts. The presidential nominating process might be effectively over (though still not sure what the Democratic convention will look like), but down-ticket races matter, too—in some ways, I think, they matter more, because my single vote is even more important there and because local candidates go on to run for state and federal offices later.
So yesterday my husband went to the Post Office (early, separated by at least 6 feet from other patrons, and assisted by hand sanitizer) to get our post card stamps for the cards that I wrote two weeks ago. They’ll go in the mail today or tomorrow (more hand sanitizer) and wing their way toward their registered-voter recipients. It gave me pleasure to sign up to write them, and pleasure when I finished the job, and I anticipate it will give me pleasure to drop them into a post box and know I’ve done something I consider valuable.
All politics is local, and in my house it happens sometimes at the dining room table.
Reconnecting personally, too—not all politics!
Also at the dining room table, I wrote and addressed a postcard yesterday to a friend, the first of many hand-written notes I hope to write while sheltering in place. I used to write long letters to friends and relatives, back in the days before mobile-phone packages and email became ubiquitous (I’m sooo old!), and I remember enjoying it. It’s a writing process not unlike any other, and I think it helps focus me in the moment and free my mind to think rather than ramble or flicker. My next letter will be, I think, either to a long-lost friend from college days or a cousin in Sweden, both of whom I’ want very much to renew contact with.
Meanwhile, I work long hours and try to make time and mind space to read. Mostly I’ve been reading poetry because it helps to center me and I’m having trouble focusing on book-length prose, possibly a sign of underlying anxiety. I’ve been reading Billy Collins and Mary Oliver, primarily, but also poems that come my way on Twitter and by email. If you have a poem I might read, send me a link in the comments or on social media; I’ll appreciate that.
Goal setting
I did well with yesterday’s goals—check, check, check on every one! Here are today’s:
- Photo a day
- Mail the postcards
- Write to another friend
- Reach out to a different specific friend for a specific reason that is personal and has no place here
- Walk the dogs
- Quality time with my husband
That lists feels pretty modest, and I have some stretch goals as well, including creating, dinner with a friend via FaceTime if I can knock off work on time, and exercise. But since I can’t fully control the length of my workday, I’m trying to be realistic.
Photo of the day
Rolo, pretending to be a much younger dog.
It feels like spring today in my part of Chicagoland, and over on Twitter I see people on the West Coast preparing to head out to their farmer’s markets. So now I want to be at mine.