I grew up Catholic, the type of Catholic that is encouraged to bargain. At the age of 7 I was fervently being told by a priest in a box that if I simply said half a dozen Hail Marys Id be forgiven for being mean to my sister. Deal, I said, smiling like the devil himself. A pattern was set in my mind. Now, I hear myself bargaining with a different higher power. Science, maybe. Or the government. Please, I say out into the void. Let all my friends get through this and I swear Ill never cancel on them again. Not for a date, not for a deadline, not even for my bulletproof millennial excuse: exhaustion.
Like everyone in New York, my friends and I are scattered, physically and mentally. I swear from this day forth I will never let their messages pile up and Ill always answer their calls. Ill be there when theyre dull and downhearted and have nothing much to say, because Im like that now and they still love me.
I would do practically anything to have all of my friends in the same room. Except obviously put them all in the same room, at least not until were vaccinated. Oddly enough, Ive actually been in some of my friends rooms lately, just without them. The pandemic threw most of the building blocks of my life up in the air, and they have yet to land. That includes a place to live.
Luckily, my friend Jon said I could stay in his apartment while he was with his family upstate. I called him on FaceTime from his own living room to ask how to get red wine out of cream cushion covers and he said: Stay for as long as you want; take whatever you need. How could I hope to thank him for his generosity? By leaving pranks throughout his personal space, of course! Rubber snakes in the dishwasher, buckets of water atop door frames, and a lovely German couple in his bedroom who think theyre in an Airbnb. Theyve paid through February. I cant imagine Jons face when he finds out! Actually, I got a fright there, because I couldnt imagine his face for a second. I miss my friends faces.
Its December now and sunbeams barely break through clouds as loneliness comes knocking. That liberation that comes with being alone in a new country turns easily to isolation particularly in isolation. Change is coming soon, though.read more
Covid-19 Taught Me to Value My Friends
