Day 18: Sunday

"I'm doing lockdown in an apartment building in New York and everybody else has gone to their summer homes.  I have a great view of the river.   Even if I had a second home, I wouldn't go there. I love it here and I'm happy as a clam."

"I've never been more relaxed and peaceful, just being home with my family every day" said a young mother who (in pre-lockdown) felt she was being pulled in "a hundred different directions." 

"I'm loving it," a friend told me.  "I'm totally in my element!"

"What's not to love?" another said.  "Whole days at home with no distractions, no commitments, no social obligations?"

These sentiments are not surprising to me, a "traveling solo" sort of girl; what's been unexpected and refreshing in Weeks 2 and 3 is that way more people than I'd have expected are admitting that forced isolation has its upsides.

The clam-happy people I know (in real life and on the radio) are "almost embarrassed" to admit it.  Of course, we say,  of course, no way we'd choose a pandemic as a way to get to stay at home and do whatever we want! It goes without saying that we'd gladly trade our juicy solitude for a reversal of coronavirus.

But now that we're here--without asking for it or buying a ticket--I imagine that we'll all take some souvenirs from this place when we go back.

I'd love to know what souvenirs you're taking back from this time--what you're realizing you don't need and what matters more than ever. If you write me this, I'll post it here to inspire everyone else--unless you tell me you'd prefer not to be quoted.