I’m one of the few people for whom the pandemic and the accompanying shutdowns and forced isolation were not only not traumatic but in many ways desirable. I am introverted. I enjoy few people and if I hadn’t regularly needed to leave my home for provisions and employment, I am not sure I would’ve gone outside more than a handful of times since college. I was exiled for the good of the realm and I took my isolation well.
And just when the world was opening back up. And I was threatened with having to engage with the world in person, I was in catastrophic car accident. Although I don’t think the word “accident” is the best one. On October 16, 2021, me and my friend Thy were heading home from the dog park with my dog Buster Posey. And because someone chose to drink and drive and T-bone us going at least 80 mph, I lost a friend and a dog that I loved so much it physically hurts to be without them and was critically injured. I will never fully recover.
Consequently, my natural tendency towards hermit living became a lifestyle. If I choose to find positives in a situation that feels pretty damn negative, I can say this has been the right time in human history to not be able to go out. Anything and everything I want, or need can and has been delivered. With a debit card and a smartphone, I have purchased all my food, attended many of my doctor appointments, adopted and had a dog brought from Ohio, and bought a car. I have found myself unable or unprepared to go out into world, and I’ve been able to bring it in to me. And I’ve been able to take care of myself and heal without an audience. At the height of the pandemic, I would only leave my apartment once a week When I first left the hospital, I didn’t leave my apartment for 7 weeks. As I become as the Little Mermaid wished “part of your world” …again. I’m grateful that I was able to recede for so long, and so easily. But I also see how it might be for the best that I call an end to my hermit era. I used to wonder how the humans in Wall-E got so fat and useless. I assume it began with being able to order warm chocolate chip cookies delivered to their door after midnight. Which I have done. And may do again.
