Rating: 💋 💋 💋
It seems that the world is tip-toeing back to life, and I certainly hope we are ready to safely ease back. I want to believe that we have been able to use the time in quarantine to recalibrate and refresh. Coronavirus is for sure a bad thing, no question, but I do not think that staring at a wall and stewing about it helps. It is important to go easy on ourselves and those around us. We need to offer support to others when possible. We need to find times to be productive so we feel good and times to relax so we feel good too. You are certainly not judged by what you have or have not done during quarantine. While this has not been a positive event, finding some personal positives so that we can keep ourselves going through it all is crucial.
After spending fifteen days locked in my apartment with no trips outside, not even for groceries, my parents came to collect me. This pandemic has definitely taken a toll on me and my headspace in ways I was not even recognizing. I realized I could not remember the last time I touched another human, not so much as a high five. Humans need eight meaningful touches a day - a hug, a squeeze on the shoulder, a handshake, etc. - in order to keep up our self esteems. If you neglect a baby, they will have permanent psychological issues to work through as they grow older. That’s why we hold babies so much, in part. So this time where we cannot interact with people is a psychological nightmare. If I could not even remember the last time I made physical contact with another living being, what had that done to me? What is this virus doing to all of us? The first time I made contact again felt like a sip of water after walking across a desert. Thanks to my fifteen days inside my apartment, my dad was able to safely give me a hug when he saw me - a good, long hug that meant the world to me.
Then we got in the car and my parents immediately got down to business, scheduling an appointment at our local urgent care for my Covid and antibody test. This was on a Friday, and their first availability was not until Tuesday, with little chance for cancellations, considering. I feel very grateful I was even able to get the test at all. The Covid test made me feel like the back of my skull was getting scraped with the metal rod, and I think taking my blood pressure after freaking out my system like that was a little unfair, but both the Covid and antibody test came back negative. I have to say, I am pretty impressed that I lived in New York City for the entirety of coronavirus's peak and did not even catch the disease asymptomatically. I know Shannon and I took every effort to be very cautious, but it still seems pretty lucky.
So now I am spending some time with my parents and my other sister, Reilly, in the shore town they live in. This is where I spent my summers as a child. This is where I learned to sail and swim and kayak - with a lot of resistance and the earliest signs of my litigation powers, I might add. This is where I got my first real job at the age of fourteen, and where I continued to work every year until I graduated college. Now, it is my lockdown home. It is certainly not a bad place to have to stay. My dad jokingly introduced me to the color green as we drove down from New York, pointing out the trees along the highway. It is a whole new world.
My first dinner was takeout from Luciano’s Ristorante. Takeout is a great way we are keeping local business afloat, which is especially important because, in a shore town like this, businesses really only have the summer months to make all their revenue. They simply cannot afford to lose the time. Every entree came with a simple mixed green salad with balsamic, and it was a super refreshing side for my pasta. I tried penne all’Amatriciana for the first time because it is another one of those dishes I always consider and never get. It was time to just go for it! There was crispy pancetta, fresh soft tomatoes with no crunchy white bits, perfectly caramelized onions, and a bit of an olive oil flavor in the sauce that was pleasantly much lighter than expected. Thank God I finally ordered it - it was scrumptious! I paired my dinner with Whispering Angel, my favorite wine alongside Miraval. It is a slightly light rosé than Miraval and perfect for summer.
My parents and Reilly sang for my birthday and gave me my gifts, since we could not be together back in March. That made the night even more special. Not only was I getting to see some new faces, I was bestowed with the lovely surprise of some Fenty Beauty face makeup all wrapped up with a bow! As everyone knows, Rihanna is the supreme queen.
We stayed up until eleven o'clock, just talking, which was such a happy welcome back to socialization. I finally went to bed, exhausted from the move, but I made sure to taste one of the fresh brownies Reilly had made first. Heated up, the chewy double fudge chocolate with a crispy edge, topped with melting homemade vanilla bean ice cream, made for the sweetest welcome home. I'll do the cooking, Reilly can take care of all the baking from now on!
I was lucky to wake up to gorgeous sun the next day, and I proudly marched myself to the beach, ready for summer.
Following up on last week's post, let's remember that Black Lives Matter was not last week's trend, it is the reality every day. Let's keep it up because the movement has already made so much positive progress and we still have so much to do.
Love you guys always ❤️
XX,
MK
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