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What you don’t know, until you’ve scored the last 18-roll Mega pack of Charmin on the shelf at your local HEB, is how divine a pandemic shutdown will be. For the mathematically challenged, a Mega-pack is the equivalent of 72 regular rolls, which haven’t been available for purchase since 1983. But no matter. For introverts like me, the toilet paper quest notwithstanding, early and heroic efforts to waylay Covid-19 via barricading myself behind a tower of Clorox Wipes canisters and a double-bolted front door proved oddly invigorating. I don’t mean to minimize a ghastly disease. Even when the virus isn’t lethal, lingering effects are pernicious. Coronavirus doesn’t respect where you fall on the extraversion scale. At the same time, I reveled in all that sudden quiet. I realize I’m fortunate in that I have a front door to double lock, no job to truck to, and I was sequestered with a couple of companions: my husband and our canine fur factory. I did miss indoor visits with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, a half-hour’s drive away, but we managed backyard visits when the weather cooperated. I can’t recommend conducting the annual gift exchange amidst the wafting automotive smells of the garage on Christmas morning, masked and six feet apart, but the red tablecloth and miniature Christmas tree on the air hockey table was a nice touch. We’re a creative family; we found ways to be together. I’m fortunate in other ways, too. My extravert friends suffered from in-person interaction withdrawal that didn’t afflict me. Instead, we connected digitally. One close friend refused to communicate outside two-hour telephone conversations—an introvert’s kryptonite. The rest, all residing in other states, settled for shorter virtual gatherings. For a somewhat obsessive, solitary-minded brooder like me, in between enjoying brief congenial exchanges, I was free to create my own diversions, on my own timetable. As 2020 dragged on, additional areas of advantage presented themselves as well.
Despite unexpected bonuses of the Covid pandemic, and post-vaccine, I’m eager for the freedom of ordinary comings and goings. I sincerely want this virus vanquished. Nevertheless, I’m grateful for the reflection time and accomplishments the pandemic bubble afforded. This introvert will miss social distancing from strangers. I’ll miss mumbling softly into my mask as I recite my grocery list and wander the aisles (one way) at H.E.B. without self-consciousness. I’ll stock up on Charmin while I can and prepare myself for the end of this semi-solitary interlude with resignation and guilty regret. --Janice
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January 2022
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