Number-one bestselling author
I miss my mom and dad.
I miss my friends and
other members of my heart family.
I miss seeing everyone
without the benefit of a computer
or telephone screen between us.
I miss being able to swim
and the act of losing myself within
the flow of the water.
I miss the physical touch
from the people I love.
I miss being able to hug someone
in a moment of joy.
I miss being able to shop,
not for the items that I would buy
but because it prolonged
the social aspect of shopping.
I miss taking the bus
for the time it gave me to read
and having the story
take me away from the world around me.
I miss physically working with others
and seeing coworkers every day
and being a part of each others lives.
I miss eating out at a restaurant
and listening to the music made
by other voices deep in conversation.
I miss my life as it used to be.
/
I miss not feeling a moment of panic
every time I see someone else
that I don’t know.
I miss not checking the space
between us to make sure
that they are far enough away.
I miss not being aware
of what six feet of space looks like.
I miss not being able
to go where I wanted
without a care of where I was.
I miss not having to count to twenty
every time I wash my hands.
I miss not looking for hand sanitizer
every time I come home.
I miss not waking up with anxiety
and feeling it flutter in my chest.
I miss not having to keep my distance
from my friends and family.
I miss not worrying about
being too close to someone.
I miss not having to take sleeping pills
so that I can actually sleep
instead of lying there until midnight.
I miss not being afraid at
what our world has become.
I miss not watching the news
every day at eleven am and what
the prime minister would say today.
I miss not practicing social distancing
and worrying at every cough or sniffle,
wondering whether or not it was
the start of something worse.
/
What I love is the creative way
that people are managing to stay close,
even though they are far apart.
What I love is the way that
people are finding ways to stay in touch,
reaching out to everyone they know,
even those they haven’t spoken to
in a long time.
What I love are the ways people are
showing kindness to others,
even people that they don’t know.
What I love is that,
even during the fright and worry
caused by this pandemic,
we are learning what to be
thankful for.