Enjoy your Staycation!!

Here's an update on what's happening in Trieste. Things have been pretty quiet and almost (dare I say) normal for the last few weeks. We can go out freely, we have to take our masks with us in case we can't safely distance, and many stores, especially grocery stores, require them. Otherwise things are like before but different. There is less traffic but no one seems to mind.

Our habits have changed. We eat out less often than we did before the pandemic. We are not making any travel plans, either, which we normally would have hammered out months ago. Daughter Eva is the exception. She has had two weeks of camp so far, a day camp just over the border in Koper to learn how to play tennis, and this week she is at sleepaway camp in Tolmin, Slovenia. She is living the river life, rafting, kayaking, playing with bugs, taking pictures with an old-fashioned digital camera because she doesn't have a phone. It was a lot easier to get into these programs this year since we signed up before we even knew if they would open up the borders again (they did, yay!). 

Socially, we are confused. The neighbors we quarantined with no longer talk to us and we are not sure why. That felt strange at first but we are not that sorry for some reason. We still say hi when we water the plants.

We are no longer required to show any form of affection to anyone if we don't want to. With other people we truly miss we throw our arms around each other and say YOU ARE WORTH THE RISK! and I DO NOT HAVE A FEVER, I PROMISE. We listen for a moment, no cough. 

Friends from the past have come back, the office no longer seems to need us there so much, people kind of like classes on Zoom. Some of us have taken up new hobbies, lifestyles, diets, started cultivating a creative life. My conversations with people are deeper than they were before when we were too busy to feel anything.

Culture has saved me from despair. I have watched a million plays I couldn't see before. I have read everything I could get my hands on that was different from what I was reading before. I started drawing and writing again and appreciating other peoples' art where possible. 

What is important has not changed but my relationship to it has shifted. Connecting to other people and creating things have become more urgent.  I feel thankful for that. 

We make no plans. Anything can happen between now and then. We live for the present. We are staying home this summer.