Slump

It’s official: I’ve hit a funk.

Ordinarily I’m a fount of ideas, with posts that are drafted several weeks ahead of time. Today, I’m just tired.

Here are things I miss about my old, pre-COVID life:

• Hugging my parents.
• Having in-person gatherings with male friends to blow off steam and connect.
• Hikes and walks with friends I held dear, but whose virtual presence has diminished. This is no fault of theirs – I’ve never been partial to phone and zoom friendships at a time when that’s the only item on the menu.
• A double date with couples we dearly miss.
• Going to a favorite coffee shop where I’ve known the baristas for years and I relish the small talk as I order, then talking finance there with a younger friend who enjoys nerding out on the topic as much as I do.
• Family reunions full of loud children, opinionated relatives who speak with their hands as much as with their mouths, and an unconditional (if occasionally smothering) love.
• Travel as a family.

Last night we spent an hour looking at old photos via our TV screen, and it brought us back to specific moments on prior trips and milestone celebrations:

• The piñata that would not break and required a baseball player older cousin to give up its treasures.
• The piping hot churros dipped in syrupy, thick Spanish hot chocolate that was a highlight of our visit to Madrid.
• The crystalline Aegean beaches we had nearly to ourselves on the island of Kythera, the best kept secret in Greece.
• The souvlaki place on the same island that we found while driving down the one main road that ran the length of the island. When a heavenly scent entered the car, we pulled over to the side of the road and followed our noses to a restaurant about the size of a single bedroom serving food so good my son still dreams about it.
• The striking colored light and bizarrely organic forms comprising the interior of the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.
• The religious cult that served some of the best veggie burgers and corned beef sandwiches we’ve ever had at a restaurant in San Sebastian.
• The precipitous, winding road that hugged the edge of a cliff as we made our way to a hike where MotE feared we faced certain death for the entire drive there…and back.

The time together, reliving shared moments, brought a ray of light to the accrued gloom. Hopefully that will be the kick in the pants I’ve been waiting for.

Here’s to hoping you snap out of your funk, too.