At every corner on very busy marked streets, this painted reminder waits for us. Written in four languages, we are reminded that in order to walk along this place we must pull out a mask that we have hidden in our pockets at all times and put it on for everyone’s safety. In Ana’s and my sock drawers we now have places for reusable masks. We have medical disposable masks in our house as well, a gift from the chiropractor I work for for when we are on the UBahn or need extra care. More and more we use them less because we want to be responsible and more and more this has become our reality.

Week 2 of lockdown lite comes in with a quiet subtlety. We don’t plan to be anywhere any time soon but walking the dogs and working from home. I have a ton of stuff to read for school that must be done today. Thank goodness for starting the semester again so at least there is some direction. I have signed up for promising classes like Street art and action in New York in the 70s and 80s and Dialetics of Enlightenment, Coping with Disaster in the US and American Culture after WWII. Should be interesting and I always think learning is a good idea. Plus the readings keep me distracted from other things.

Lockdown 2.0 week one was full of anxiety because of elections, Ana returning from Serbia and hoping she got home ok (she did), the start up of school again and just the general sense of dis-ease as we see numbers spiking but this Monday feels a little more resolved. Election results announced, school in swing, Ana home safe and we have all readjusted to what is the new now in the world of Covid. Our Sunday family call was full of updates and I started to be teary as we talked about postponing aspects of Christmas as we notice more and more we probably won’t be able to be together.

But who knows what will happen. We are all in the midst of waiting. Extended Advent has begun. How are you holding up?