Hey, I used to Do That!

A bizarre byproduct of social distancing and sheltering in place, is watching all the commercials on TV where people are out and about doing all the things we’re not allowed to do anymore. This produces a rather remarkable thought:

“Gee, I wish I could do that!”

That’s right, we’re on the cusp of commercial envy. I’d say TV, but ads are ubiquitous to many streaming and online media platforms.

And yet, as I started this a few days ago, I’ve noticed that commercials are beginning to tone that down. But it’s still there because what we watch is what we knew regular life to be. That, in turn, brings up the question of when, or if, we ever get back to some sense of normalcy. Which, oddly, and we’re only talking about a month since social distancing was mandated, has me nostalgic for what I was doing a month ago.

And it seems like so much longer than that.

It’s probably because as we shelter in place, we’re watching people on screen doing what we want to be doing now, but are not, and as it was not long ago when we were doing that, and the fact that we have no attention span to speak of, we still miss it. It reminds me of going off to boot camp and missing my girlfriend, and the guy next to me, who had no girlfriend, noted I last saw her 3 days before.

Ah, the ache of love.

Back to my point… what was I thinking? Oh, yeah, like the immediacy of being in love, we miss the immediacy of having our life lived as we liked. And being in a holding pattern that may or may not end anytime soon, we’re beginning to miss that old life as we once missed that old love.

We took it all for granted. I’m fairly certain I heard that in a love song.

Will we ever be able to have that life again? Probably not anytime soon. Even if the restrictions are lifted-though modified is more likely-will we be willing to go out in the numbers needed to return to what once was? I think a lot of people will be gun-shy, waiting for others to test the waters , so to speak. That portends a new normal and a lot of anxiety in between.

Which makes me nostalgic for life a month ago and what I could once do.

©2020 David William Pearce