Two more poems reflect my feelings about the coronavirus and self-care and how we narrowly escaped Spain’s outbreak about a month ago! We could still be there!
In recovery, we talk often about self-care: measures we do to take of body, mind and soul. For me, usually I enjoy regular routines of dancing, exercising and associating with people. I also find alone time, my Quiet Time, to recharge my spirit and soul.
This coronavirus pandemic has disrupted my social and active practices and has taken self-care to a new level, adding unusual routines to my life: shelter-in-place and follow our governor’s guidelines and more. As I pondered this early in April, self-care took on a different meaning.
Self-Care
April 3, 2020
A mask
A Bandanna
Social distance
Space
Wash my hands singing the Doxology
Stay home
Self-care for
The coronavirus
But what about
My spirit
My soul
A Quiet Time
Solace
Time Alone with my God
Words exchange
Thoughts shared
Prayer—
Silence
Solemn
Desperate today
An ancient tradition
Praying the Rosary
Repetition
Veneration of
Mary
Jesus
God, the Father
Meditation
Staying in the moment
I yearn for my God
I seek him daily!
Who am I
Without Him?
Who am I
With Him?
An obedient girl child
A rebellious teenager
A maniac in my twenties
Heart-broken
Destroyed by my first divorce
A recovered woman
A struggling middle-aged woman
A desperate 50-year-old
A grief-stricken 60-year-old
A serene 66-year-old crone
In love with my life
Before the coronavirus!
Today
I avoid crowds
I wear a mask
And you can’t shame me out of it
I move away from you
For social distancing
When I take care of myself,
I take care of you!
Remember that when you see
Me in a mask!
I’ve taken this shelter-in-place time to go deep inside and wonder about this world and all the possibilities. We left Spain on March 8, and the virus exploded there the next day. Had we left there a couple days later, we could still be there—think about that one! Here’s my poem dealing with that:
Tomorrow is a Month
April 7, 2020
Thirty-one days
Since we left
Coronavirus-stricken Madrid
And Spain
We left on March 8th;
It exploded there the 9th.
Thirty-one days of
Holding my breath
Self-examination
By the minute
Self-diagnosis
Daily
Self-screening
Repeatedly
Washing hands
washing hands
washing hands!
A throat tickle
Sore throat
Diarrhea
Cough
Is it the virus?
Dread and anxiety gripped me
Two weeks of
Self-quarantine
Desperate not to share it
If I had it.
Dances cancelled
CALLERLAB cancelled
Life cancelled!
After two weeks
A sigh
Maybe we made it
Yet. . .
Incubation period
2 — 14 days
maybe 27
Oh, my God!
Shelter-in-place
Nothing new
No new symptoms
After two weeks,
Out of the house for the first time
For a prescription and groceries
Panic and fear
People six-feet apart
at the drug store
Safe yet foreign
People too close to me
In the grocery store
Claustrophobic
Malted Easter Eggs lured me in
Impulse buying
No, it’s Easter time
I always buy them at Easter
Normal routine
Two bags
I wolfed down one whole bag
immediately
And gained three pounds!
Remedy to grocery shopping
Senior time slot
Early in the morning
Safer
Respectful of distance
Less people
Still washing hands
disinfecting the bags
the Jeep
the steering wheel
the knobs
EVERTYTHING!
Watching my husband, Lin, closely
Fear gripped my heart
Both of us have had health issues
the last couple years
Three weeks gone
Another sigh of relief
Yet in the back of my mind
And heart
Will it happen?
Will it sneak up and attack
when I least expect it?
Tomorrow I will breathe
Celebrate
Relax
Praise God!
But today,
I am still apprehensive
Not sure
Wondering?
God protect us!
Have you used this time allotted us to look inside and seek yourself and God in a new way? I’ve relished that opportunity, as sad as it has been. What are your thoughts about self-care and this virus? When will it end? Will we ever get back to normal?
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