It’s 1 pm and I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.

The coffee pot is still on.

I’m writing this from the oversize chair in my family room. A chair that, like adulthood, looks more comfortable than it really is.

I look out the window. It’s raining and the sky matches my grey sweatpants. The TV tells me gas prices are dropping. A good time to fill up the tank. I look out the window again. I think about it. But there is really no place to go.

I hear Cindy’s footsteps upstairs. I’m not sure what she’s doing but she sounds hard at work. I think about investigating. I shift my weight. I’m not sure how much longer I can sit here. My butt is whispering to me.

My kids have been playing video games for 3 straight hours. And from the sound of gun fire and explosions, the war is raging and they’re not calling a truce for lunch.

Welcome to a rainy Sunday in quarantine in my house. A place I haven’t left in two weeks.

I’ve been listening to Marvin Gaye’s What’s going on for the last hour.

Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today

In a week that saw anti-quarantine protests throughout the country, food processing plants closures, well-groomed politicians pointing clean and crooked fingers at anyone but themselves, and warnings from Lysol and other household cleaner companies not to ingest or inject cleaning products to combat the coronavirus–Marvin and I, have to ask, “What’s going on?”

No doubt, we’re living in uncertain times. But in 1971, when Marvin Gaye recorded What’s going on— the Vietnam War was escalating, race riots raged through the country, President Nixon made some questionable decisions that nudged the US into a financial crisis and Jim Morrison died.

From the looks of Wikipedia (even my research is uninspired today), 1971 was a pretty crappy year. Now, it’s not even May but I think we would anoint 2020 pretty crappy as well: Cornonavirus, unemployment in the millions, the cancellation of just-about-everything, and the death of Kobe Bryant.

I know you feel this– all of this crappiness. So do I. So did Marvin.

But today find sobriety, take solace in knowing the world has always been a mess.

There have always been illnesses and wars and financial hardships and deaths of undeserving young people.

This is nothing new. Saying history is full of strife is an understatement.

Seeing the current world through let’s say, “a dusty lens of antiquity”, helps to better understand this current moment. No matter the calendar year, we’re all humans just trying to survive and make sense of what’s going on. We’re all just trying to make our brief time here– a little better.

Sure, there are those among us who may deserve a tall, frosty glass of bleach, but most of us (especially the good people who read and share this blog) realize that we have to help each other through the absurd and uncertain and heartbreaking days of our lives.

In case you’re wondering– my butt is fast asleep. This chair really is not as comfortable as it looks. The kids are still blowing things up. I don’t hear Cindy’s footsteps. Maybe I avoided housework again.

I look out the window.

Rain falls like gas prices upon suburbia.

There’s no where to go.

Even still–I should go brush my teeth.

Be well,

Jay

Volume 2 of Quarantine-Inspired Blackout Poetry by My Daughter and I.

This helps me through each day. The importance of reframing your questions: What if doesn’t have to foreshadow verbs of doom and prepositions of gloom.

Subscribe!

Need some encouragement? Some perspective? This hardworking, almost handsome, suburban soccer dad can help. Subscribe and, like a pizza, get my posts delivered to your door (your email inbox). No spam. Just posts.