I took a walk yesterday.
It’s Spring. The temperature was in the mid 60s.
I’ve written previously about afternoon walks in suburbia, back before I retired from CSU, back before the election, back before the birth of my grandson. Those previous walks were in the midst of Covid, and I walked nearly empty streets. I had more encounters with Trump flags than I did with other humans.
There are fewer Trump flags now. The election is over, even if the larger political landscape is unchanged. My neighbors are out in greater numbers, walking their dogs, preparing their lawns and gardens. People are getting vaccinated, and the number of people who don’t trust the vaccine is dropping rapidly as the cynical fear-stoked divisions of the conspiracists begin to weaken. My grandson was born, survived some port-birth complications, and now helps me write in the afternoon. I’ve made the transition from work to retirement pretty handily, and love my new lifestyle. I have a novel in the works. Spring is on its way, followed closely by baseball season.
Of course, a giant snowstorm is bearing down on us even as I type these words, one which will keep us trapped indoors most of the weekend. Most of those Trump flags continue to fly, and most of those anti-vaxxers and Covid-deniers are selling their wares on my news feed. I’m only fifty pages into that new novel, and there is nothing easier to write than the first fifty pages of a novel. And the Mets will probably suck yet again this year.
Still. It feels like rebirth, as it does every year around this time. Soon we’ll turning back the clocks, hiding Easter eggs, and buying leftover half price Easter candy. And when that snowstorm subsides this weekend, and warmer weather commences, I’ll be walking these suburban streets again, saying hello to my neighbors, writing stories in my head, and listening to the game on the radio. Let’s go Mets.
My apologies to e e cummings for the title and subtitle of this post. I must have read that poem a thousand times in school.
Time for commerce:
My website: jeffmwood.com.
My Amazon page.
My latest story: Veronica Scissors
My erotic story series, Serious Moonlight (as J G Cain)