friend or friendly
at the immaculate conception of my triplets in 2019, big sis was terrifying just about all of us in her quest to have a friend. as she carried her three year old insights from place to place, a smile was all it took to make you her trusted friend. as she bantered enthusiastically about "the friend" she had found at a roadside rest stop, it was all too easy to imagine her wandering of with god knows whom to god knows where. the sad fact was that her three short years had not contained any consistent friendship, either for herself or either of her parents. her daddy had many deep friendships, but mommy's intense social anxiety kept her "safe" from those friendships. the occasional "hello" was all she knew of friendship. all of the professionals in the chain of command which brought her to us were agreed that "socialization" was a top priority in her healing needs.
then along came corona. . . sigh. . . just mask it all! ! !
that gullible three year old will graduate kindergarten in a few weeks. she knew many of her classmates from pre-k. yesterday i chaperoned on the kindergarten field trip. there was an abundance of volunteer chaperones, so i only had three charges from the two bus loads of kindergarten students: big sis, her best friend and one other. in addition to the abundance of volunteer chaperones, a great many parents showed up, just to share the field trip with their child. big sis's best friend was one whose mother showed. that left her with me and "the other." yes, he had a name and she used it affectionately, but the otherness between them remained. friendly but not friends. in the midst of all the field trip fun, friendly was more than enough.
i can't seem to remember the last time she called a friendly stranger, "my friend."
Replies
It's great that you were able to get out for a field trip Arf..... I keep hoping that one day we'll be back to what was before Covid... It's taking so bloody long.... Unbelievable really
"My friend" sounds nice.... xo
inheriting my 3 orphans happened so close to the dawning of the global shutdown that i have zero expectations of returning to my pre-corona sensibilities. for sure, the still increasing social distances from my fellow seniors seem to be keeping pace with the post covid inflation rates. can't say i miss them much and the speed with which they abandoned ship with the corona crowning makes trust harder than ever. it feels like i've done well at processing the shock of abandonment. gone is gone. healing hopes for all. no exceptions. from a safe social distance, of course.
i've been getting out quite allot since the schools here went back into session in fall 2020. i've just been afraid to disclose details anywhere the masked "good guys" can put me on their hit lists. i'm still suffering considerable paranoia on that score, but feeling like it's time to take a risk push past it for the sake of the children. i still believe that socialization -up close and unmasked- is an essential part of child development.
I hear you.... I suppose I'm leaning on hope....It's made me realize how fortunate I have been most of my life to not have to deal with this really.... I was working in a hospital during SARS but this is soooo much worse and we weren't affected by SARS just had to wear the garb
It's nice that you're getting out sweetie.... xo
i've heard nurses say they thought SARS was far meaner than covid, but i happily plead ignorance on that score. the vast social distances between myself and the medical institutions keep me studiously ignorant of what goes on in any of those labyrinths, even here in the covidic madness. my awareness of all that is restricted to the political mandates. nobody was forcing civilians to dress like medicos during the SARS epidemic and nobody was suggesting we sequester the healthy.
here in cow country, the general mood suggests we are past all that and the remaining maskites are just wearing the latest fashion. meow. city folks are funny that way. alas, enough of the global shutdown influence remains that we are forever looking over our shoulders for new waves of mandates. are biohazard suits going to be the next mandated fashion wave?