Apart; living alone during a pandemic
Just after Maine closed down due to our Stay-at-Home order in March, new-to-Maine resident Anne Rankin reached out to me. The Front Steps Project founders had just asked everyone to pause for safety, but Anne's email and perspective moved me. Most of my friends and family were isolated with at least one other person - but what has this experience been like for those who are truly apart?
Anne and I agreed to defer her session until the restrictions lifted, and I met and and her sweet 8 year old dog Ozzie the other day. She kindly allowed me to share some of her words here:
holed up alone
hunkered down, everyone their own private idaho, the country finally begins to mourn itself. each day such a long task to finish. longer still for you, holed up alone—unaccompanied for weeks, months, how long since the world hit pause? fighting to save that one square of tissue that falls on the bathroom floor and nursing your fears of the mail, you wash your hands over and over, solo-singing the happy birthday song, wondering who’s celebrating.
sometimes you need someone else’s eyes to open your own. all you want is to be zoomed by someone, somewhere. but life online feels like wearing a wet suit when what you want is skinny dipping. one day as you carry out the trash, your neighbor tosses her greeting from another world across the street, and the lilting sound of your name in the wind and the sight of her screenless face turning to meet your eyes feels so personal it comes close, moves you to tears.
*copyright 2020 Anne Rankin* |
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