Lend me your ear

 

It is amazing what a phone call can do.

I live alone and that has never been a problem before this pandemic. I had tons of friends and was out and about so much that my time alone was cherished.

Now I have basically been alone, really home alone, without coffees, or lunches, or movies with friends for going on six months. That is a long time. Book club on zoom just isn't the same. We gave it up. The same with coffee. There is just something about sitting at a table among living, breathing bodies that changes the atmosphere. But we are social distancing and I am vulnerable.

I am not bored. I have books to read, an infinite number of movies to watch with the internet, I have gone to an occasional outdoor picnic, or local ballgame with my daughter (maybe four or five total,) but sometimes I find myself just feeling trapped and old and lately, ill.

Bestest calls me every morning and that gets me out of bed. It's amazing how important that time has become.

My younger son calls me when he is driving somewhere or doing work that is just physical, or after his runs in the evening. Sometimes we talk for hours, even four or five hours. 

Even when it is just a few minutes, these phone calls leave me rejuvenated and feeling better. We may just talk about nothing, or we may discuss world affairs, but I think it is the human contact that makes them so miraculous.

I find it interesting, because I have always felt like a bit of a loner, but evidently I do need a certain amount of real human contact and I am so fortunate to have people to give it to me.