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2020-04-22 - 4:12 p.m.
THE BIG MISTAKE.
on social media, my cousin's wife participates in a photo challenge. the theme is "life is good." each day for 10 days, you are supposed to share a picture that will spread cheer and remind people of the good times. today is day 10. yesterday, she posted a picture from this past st. patrick's day. it is of my cousin, wearing a shamrock-print novelty suit, out on the town for a bar crawl in boston. this year, boston canceled its st. patrick's day parade due to rising numbers of coronavirus cases throughout the city and state. beyond this, the mayor's office did not offer any specific guidance for private holiday events. some bars and pub crawls shut down voluntarily, and residents of traditional party neighborhoods flocked to social media urging out-of-town revelers to stay home. my cousin, his groomsmen, and his wife traveled to boston anyway. they had a great time. on the day my cousin's wife uploaded his picture to social media, 196 people in the city of boston alone were confirmed dead from coronavirus - an order of magnitude more fatalities than the entire state where they reside. * * *
my aunt initially, cheerfully, cluelessly forwarded us pictures of my cousin and his wife and their pals on their fun party weekend. my sister had just been forced to leave boston due to coronavirus-related disruptions to her personal care, unhappily settling in at my parents home in new jersey. my dad looked at the picture on my mom's phone, paused for a moment, and shook his head. "if the kid's buying clothes like that, he's making too much money." when the picture resurfaced on social media, i decided to look up what the suit cost. it appears to be an exclusive design from a brand specializing in obnoxious party gear for assholes and douchebags. per their website: No one takes a man in a funny suit as a drunkard. That's a lie. You're going to be drinking in these bad boys, and there's no way around it. These are party suits. They also grab the bartender's attention with one glance - shaving minutes off your time waiting for a brew pop. now, imagine you are living far in the future, writing a historical novel set at this time. but you are not a very good writer. your metaphors are heavy-handed, your foreshadowing too on the nose. what would you name the suit my cousin was wearing in his picture?
* * *
reading: i have to be strict with myself with the news i consume. mostly, i read books to the children.
listening to: the muffled sound of my husband on conference call.
working on: sewing masks for friends and neighbors and health care workers here in town. this is a great disruption to my household.
in the garden: where i removed invasive ivy, we now see spring ephemeral wildflowers.
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