I ventured out, beyond my bubble
In August, 2021
Into the 3D social realm
Of humans
But far from immersed
I simply visited, so to speak
I much prefer my bubble
Which isn't a bad thing
I read outside my bubble
Even occasionally communicate
With other human life forms
Outside my bubble
Who sometimes, it seems
Breathe a different air than I
Bubbles are probably simple-complex structures
Most can pop easily with the proper pressure
Others float so high into the atmosphere
They just disappear
When light hits the bubble just right
Prisms appear
My current bubble, at least part of it
Developed due to serious health adversities
Which began in 2011
My second round of chronicity
But with a different set of symptoms
In order to navigate
Human socialization slowly took a back seat
And I entered a type of social isolation
Away from humans
Away from communication
Of our so-many words
That endeavor to explain
Isolation has been a great teacher
Will I ever be able to put into words
Her lessons
Not that the lessons ever cease...
~*~
My bubble...
Or, at least, part of it...
From 2011 thru 2017
Much of my time was spent as a companion
With animals
Dogs and cats
Occasional tarantula and lizard and fishes
Chickens, parakeets, parrots
And a tortoise, named Speedy
In 2013, I had to back away more
From human conversation
Cognitive, neurological, functional fatigue
I entered a different world...
Deer began to often visit
In our back yard
They regularly come around now
Doe and frolicking fawns
Inspiring hope
Sometimes, they even sleep in our back yard
Once I saw a ten-point buck
Regally, with deliberation, stroll through
In 2018, a fox family
Took up residence under our deck
For a week or so
Not to mention visits from
Opossums and owls
And raccoons and squirrels and chipmunks
Crickets and katydids and cicadas
Tree frogs and fireflies
Bees and butterflies
Hawks and song birds
And oh my the crows
Who dance upon the tin roof of our shed
In 2014, I discovered I could ride a bike
Which provided temporary respite
From some of my symptoms
A purpose for my mundane life
Beyond being my own caregiver
Greenways and rail-trails became my therapy
Sightings of groundhogs in abundance
Llamas, cows, goats, sheep
River rats and snakes
Egrets and song birds and geese
Steady, stately herons
Some in flight, others resting with one leg tucked
And the occasional flasher-pose
And trail-humans
Who love the rivers and trees
And rocks and forests
And know, that therein
Is reality
I once saw a sacred, lone, black coyote
Near Mt. Mitchell
I feel sure I'm leaving some out
My apologies to those beloveds
Whom my brain has momentarily lapsed
Of their remembrance
But my cells do not forget
______
______
In the context of the current cultural "stuff"...
I've thought about sharing my thoughts on Covid, vaccines, etc....
And I've felt, I just don't have the energy to explain. But decided I'd give it a try.
I went to my keyboard to compose, and the above is what came out, which made me laugh out loud a couple times.
It made me laugh (in part...at least...I think) because there is sooooo much backstory --decades of it, back into the 1980s-- which influences and encompasses my opinion(s) on Covid, etc... some of them quasi-opinions. (But why does that make me laugh? Hmmm...well, I might ponder that some....)
[Note: I took a multi-day, solo trip in August from NC to PA and NY. It's a huge deal; I've not been able to do any such solo trips since 2011 which was the time of the onset of my current challenges and made any such trips undoable for me. This trip was still a fantasy in June, 2021... I'm kinda still pinching my self that it was real. But, very real it was in deed --"out of time and place," as my friend in Woodstock, with whom I stayed in NY, described it. (The condition I developed in 2011 is polyradiculitis which is usually associated with Guillain-Barre and CIDP. I've had gradual improvement, mostly since 2016. The trek continues...)]
