Grilling during the Pandemic

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Yesterday we grilled. I also asked my husband to please — see the word there — contain his meltdowns until we are somewhere private. He said, okay. I’m sure in the coming days, this request will trickle into our conversations, one sentence at a time.

We are so different yet alike. I like to express my thoughts in one discussion.

Step 1: Get my point of view out

Step 2: Hear the other

Step 3: Come to a compromise

Step 4: Move on

For my husband, it looks more like this:

Step 1: Hide my point of view

Step 2: Externally agree with the other

Step 3: Pretend it never happened

Step 4: Move on

That is until Step 2 rears its ugly head.

“But you agree,” it’ll tell him.

Inside my hubby would shake his head because he didn’t really agree, he just didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“But you said…” Step 2 will taunt him.

Till my Hubs explode from the pressure of not telling and feeling.

The good thing is that once is out in the open, at least I know the real issue and I can prod him to express himself more. I’m not Mother Teresa. I don’t prod him every time. I don’t have that kind of patience.

When I comb my hair dry. I do it from the tips and work myself to the roots while spraying water down conditioner. It takes so long, and my arm always hurts afterward. That’s how it feels to get my husband to open up. When I have the strength and patience, I prod him and help him open up. He’s a man of mystery, but everything is written all over his face.

Yesterday. The day was better. Even the weather was better. It went from 19 degrees the day before to a whopping 54 without wind. It was lovely. When I was scrolling through Twitter, I read a post: Spring waits for no one, and I thought, isn’t that the truth? Here we are hunkering down waiting for this virus to pass, and Mother Nature is in all her glory wearing her beautiful flower dress, twirling around in everyone’s garden barefoot.

She will not let COVID fuck up her vibe. Get it, Mother Nature. Do you boo-boo.

Yesterday, the entire family — except the cat — walked for 5-miles. I found my homemade mask defective. Perhaps it’s my ears that are defective because the elastic would not stay behind them. It will roll and bend my left ear in and make it very itchy. When we stopped passing people, I took it off.

On our walk, we passed a group of kids riding their bikes. The littlest one was crying, and I couldn’t pass her by without making sure they were okay. I try keeping my physical distance, but when I started to fix her bike, they all gather around me to watch.

My mechanical skills are not up to par. I called my husband over to help. He and the teenager were doing great at over eight feet apart. Both came over when I called. The hubs turned the bike over, and the teenager took John from me and gave me two free hands. Apparently, it is more useful to work on the chain with the bike turned upside down. Have I told you I’m not very mechanical?

The little girl was crying because her bike didn’t work, and she did not want to walk while the other kids rode their bikes. I would be upset too. After a few tinkers with the chain, we got it to work.

Before you ask, where were their parents? Were all those kids related? What were they doing by themselves circling around a pond? Let me tell you, I asked myself those same questions. Actually, I asked them the first one to which they answered with: home. I didn’t ask anymore. We helped them so they may go back home. To their parents.

Several people passed the kids before we reached them. I thought for sure, one of the man-woman pairs were their parents. They weren’t. They walked on by, keeping their social distance, and pretending they weren’t there. I guess they did the right thing and followed CDC guidance.

Yesterday, I failed the social distancing test. Much the same way I stop my car when a squirrel crosses the road, I stopped to check when I spotted the child crying. Hopefully, I didn’t catch COVID.

Yesterday, we grilled, and it felt so… normal! And when I ate the chicken, brats, and steak with that smoky flavor, it reminded me of when we invited the neighbor over and watched the clouds, talk story, and played a few songs, while sitting on the aqua and rose gold patio furniture.

At least Mother Nature is having fun. Soon, we will join. I’m sure. At least I hope.