I like to tell people I’m a closet introvert. That always gets a reaction. “What?! How can anyone be a closet introvert?” But it’s the truth. If you meet me, the first thing you’ll think is that I’m a total extrovert. What you won’t realize is that I’m working fairly hard at it. In reality, I really relish my quiet time and prior to getting married, that meant time alone. Now that I’m married, I’m fairly content to have it just be me, Darryl and kitty. I’ve got a couple of besties that I do things with now and again and we have awesome families that we both enjoy. But, we’re an hour away from family and twenty minutes away from town. So, for the most part, it’s just us chickens out here on the farm. And believe me, I’m okay with that.
When the pandemic first hit, I was flying through LAX for a conference where I was presenting. On the hotel news the morning after I landed, they announced the first coronavirus case had passed through LAX at the same time as me. It made me the tiniest bit concerned but if you’ve flown through LAX, you get it. The odds of it impacting me were incredibly small. I’d fly out the next morning from Long Beach and candidly, I didn’t think much of it. I’d heard about coronavirus, was a little concerned it would be a big deal but other than that, I went back to my life.
Over the next few weeks, like everyone else, I’d gradually hear more and more. The spread through the nursing home in Washington state, the burgeoning outbreak in New York City and the hint of a potential lockdown. I had been slated to travel to New York in early February. Then, a blizzard warning came up and I stayed home. That would be my last direct brush with coronavirus until March 14th.
March 14th is my birthday. For that day, my husband asked what I wanted. My gift? A couple’s massage and then a late lunch/early dinner at a local brew pub in the small ski resort town next to us. The governor of New York had just issued an advisory that restaurants were to go to half capacity and that unnecessary events be cancelled or postponed. We called the ski resort’s spa. Were they still open? They assured us that they were and that they had the proper cleaning procedures in place. We went and had a great time, though I felt a little guilty. That was a Saturday. On Tuesday, March 17th, New York would shut down for over two months.
As I have watched the devastation wrought by the coronavirus and listened to stories from my colleagues in New York, I’ve been struck by one thing: we were painfully insulated from it.
Candidly, I feel a little guilty about that. The health and financial implications of this pandemic have been horrendous and yet here I sit, in my fairly safe little world. My county had at the maximum 17 cases at a time. We got as low as four. I believe we’re back up to 11 cases. Meanwhile, both my husband and I work from home and our employment hasn’t changed. My work has slowed down and I haven’t travelled since February, but essentially, we’ve been very, very well taken care of.
And finally, I was made for this. The last four-and-a-half months of quarantine has meant some serious progress on the homefront. First, I painted and spruced up our master bathroom. Then, Darryl has been consistently working on our first floor laundry/butler’s pantry and a new half-bath. I power washed and resealed our decks. Darryl expanded the garden starts and the garden has never been this fully planted. We have over 50 tomato plants, four full rows of potato plants, another very full row of sweet potatoes and we could keep the neighborhood (there’s only seven houses) in jalapenos.
We’ve also been organizing our basement, I’ve cleaned and redecorated my office, we cleaned out his office at the university, replanted our front perennial garden and figured out the cable railing system for our decks.
While we haven’t achieved as much as my sisters – who quite frankly were pandemic overachievers – I feel good about where we are. And mostly, I feel like the constant panic of trying to get to the next pending disaster has ebbed. We still have one or two of those likely cooking but we’re finally getting on top of our lives – even working part-time and from home. This is just so much harder of a lifestyle to live.
But that gets me back to being a closet introvert. We’ve gotten all of this work done – and our yard has never looked better – but I haven’t really noticed any discomfort in the direction of my life. That’s when it hit me: I really am a closet introvert.
Basically, the reason nothing really feels different for us is twofold: one, we live in a rural area that has not significantly been touched by the pandemic and two, being semi-quarantined is kinda how we live. Genuinely, there are days that I don’t drive my car and I typically just go to the grocery or the home improvement store. Every once in awhile, I hit up the decorating stores but even during the most strict parts of the quarantine, I could order online. I felt the pinch when I couldn’t visit my sisters for about six weeks but I still talked to them everyday. And other than that, life has simply rolled on as normal here. I still work the same hours, dinner still gets made every night and the house still needs to get cleaned. We may have had a few less distractions which led to a few more projects getting done, but other than that, it’s been the same.
And I am totally okay with it. That’s it. As honest as I can get it. I’m okie-dokie-smokie, A-Okay with not seeing or interacting with a lot of people. I like the quiet and the serenity. I like how calm it is. I like that I have the chance to let my guard down and let my mind wander. I like that in the morning, I can sit outside with a cup of coffee and enjoy the day before it gets too hot. I like working hard during the day but having something to show for it. I like prepping dinner and making a healthy meal for us to enjoy. I like having a glass of wine while either looking at the stars or around a campfire. And I really, really like that I can have any or all of those things any day of the week.
So, I think I really earn that title of closet introvert. I like people and I like the energy I get from them. I heartily missed my family when I couldn’t see them. But darn it all to Pete, I like the quiet, too. I really, really like the quiet.
On this Saturday morning, the first day of August, I hope you find your quiet and your peace. Unless you’re looking for excitement. Then, I hope you find that instead.
Peace out.
The Yuppie Homesteader 