Is It Soup Yet?

by Skip Cohen
 
It's Sunday Morning Reflections time, and I doubt my feelings this morning are any different than yours - I'm missing the freedom I took for granted just a few months ago.

​Occasionally watching the news, I'm frustrated with the various arguments regarding the pandemic. For example, mask-on or mask-off? It shouldn't be a question. It's not wax-on wax-off with Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid. I don't get the need to argue - then again, I've never understood bikers who feel the helmet law challenges the Constitution!

I hit Publix supermarket yesterday with my mask and gloves...discovered if I'm wearing glasses, they steam up every time I exhale. So, without my contact lenses, and my glasses off, my vision is horrible. But I started laughing, thinking back to stupid things I've done when I can't see! Years ago I bought Bonnie Raitt's new album. I put it on in the car on the way home from NYC and it was horrible, all bad hard rock. Another look - without my my glasses on I bought "RATT." 

I made it through the supermarket run - didn't touch my face, and washed my hands for twenty seconds when I got home. Welcome to "Normalcy, 2020!"

For those of you too young to understand, "Is it soup yet?" It came out of a Lipton's soup commercial in the 70s and was a slam against Campbells. Suddenly, thanks to modern chemistry and technology, instant soup was there in seconds rather than the incredible struggle to wait a few minutes to cook soup on the stove! The bottom line is - today, it means "Is it time?" or "Is it done yet?"

Sadly the answer, when it comes to the challenges of dwindling patience, we're all facing staying home, is "NO!" And, while this mess we're in isn't over yet - we're getting closer to the end...patience is a virtue, although I found the perfect quote for how so many of us feel:

"Why is patience a virtue? Why can't hurry the F--- up be a virtue?"
Author unknown

​However, there are some very cool things happening if you take advantage of the time you've suddenly got.

• Phone a friend: Several times during the day I'm picking up the phone and calling friends I haven't talked to in a long time. It's been great and reaffirms the importance of all of us being social animals.
• Clean your office: I took the time this week to clean the closet in my office. In the process I finally found some of the connectors I misplaced along with lens caps, memory cards, and even two lights I can now use for online video.
• Step outside your comfort zone: Yesterday, with Sheila's help, Lucy got her first haircut. Instead of a professional groomer, I took on the challenge. As long as Lucy doesn't see herself in the mirror, I'm safe. I got the job done, but I couldn't help but look back to the one and only time my Dad cut my hair when I was 12 - I didn't take off my baseball hat for two weeks.
• Experiment in the kitchen: Not going out and being paranoid about carry-out, all our meals are at home. While it's something Sheila and I have always enjoyed together, it's more fun now. And we're going through more wine, even those gifted, dusty, we-never-heard-of vineyards somebody brought as a gift.

And last on the list - I've got at least forty images to share in a few upcoming posts based on the post I shared Friday and yesterday about sharing Joy. A few of you couldn't figure out the email address of skipatmei500dotcom. It's done that way to avoid spammers and spiders...so replace the "at" with a @ and "dot" with a .  Send me a low res image of something in your life right now, making you happy and bringing a little joy into your life. I'm going to be sharing all week long.

Wishing everybody a Sunday of peace, patience, safety and good health. Those long therapeutic hugs are still valid with whoever you're quarantined with, and if you're solo - give yourself a big pat on the back, stay safe and call a friend. We'll get through this.

Dawn Davis said it best in a comment to one of my posts yesterday:

Please be safe and stay healthy. There is no better time to strengthen our bonds,
to virtually stand together, to help each other through this storm,
​and come out the other side stronger.

Stay safe everybody...Happy Sunday!