At the best of times, I’m not crazy about my face.
Out of about a thousand pictures that have been taken, I like about four.
So, it has come as a huge shock how often I am touching it.
Washing, checking, adjusting glasses, rubbing eyes, putting on makeup, fixing smudges, scratching something, plucking, fluffing bangs or wiping off crumbs.
Experts say the average is two to 4,000 times a day. I know it sounds impossible. You should count. What else do you have to do?
This is just one thing I’ve learned during 'coronageddon' and the COVID-19 outbreak.
Another revelation is how disgusting I must have been prior to this pandemic.
I figured I was pretty clean, but I was wrong.
Never ever before this did I think about germs on a gas pump. I would fill the car and then get in the car, touch my face, touch all the buttons on the car, sort my CD’s, drink my coffee, fix my lipstick, and motor happily on.
I did not wipe down my takeout cups or dishes. It never crossed my mind.
I don’t think I ever washed my reuseable bags and certainly not the plastic ones.
While I did always leave my shoes at the door, I didn’t leave them outside the door. I didn’t drop my drawers upon entering my house and head straight to the laundry.
Washing hands was a given, but not as often or as long and carefully as now. I didn’t usually sing while doing it, but I do now. (Copa Copacabana ... music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa, I fell in love.)
Housework has never been my greatest joy. In the last month, I have been mopping and wiping and bleaching and dusting and looking for more things to sterilize. It is almost unnatural. The cat is sick to death of hiding from the vacuum.
Another thing that has shocked me is how social I really am. I would have described myself as an introverted extrovert. I thought I was used to being alone. I have worked from home for a couple of years now and I actually like it, usually.
What I am discovering, and maybe you are, too, is that I want to stay home alone until I am told by someone that I have to stay home.
I’m like a child who wants to do a whole lot of things I normally would not want to do.
I used to hide from neighbours. Now, I keep the front door open so I could possibly catch a glimpse of a human being walking by.
To put in time and look to the future I am currently making a list of what I want to do when this is all over.
1. What is the first thing you will do when the isolation is over? I go back and forth between visiting my family and getting my nails done. (Currently, determining my priorities.)
2. Make a list of the 10 people I want to socially un-distance from first. It will be my tribe — my overly huggy and kissy affectionate tribe.
3. What is the first vacation you will take? (Not a deserted island.)
4. What is the first non-essential thing you will buy? (If we ever have enough money.)
5. Which restaurant have you missed going out too the most? (For me, it is any local breakfast diner.)
6. What is the thing you have most missed about this whole experience? (I’m thinking the freedom we had to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted to do it.)
I can’t believe how much I have missed people. I fear I will become one of those people who tell you their life story in line at the store.
“Hi --- Hi --- I’m Wendy. I like cats. Do you like cats? I used to be shy but not anymore. Now I talk to everyone. When I was little, I pretended I was a majorette. I had a baton. It was fun. Bacon may be my favourite food. Do you have a favourite food? And coffee, I simply couldn’t live without it. Oh, I like your necklace? Where’d you get it? How much was it? I like a bargain, do you? How many times do you touch your face? Blah. blah, blah.”
For now, we will just have to keep learning more about ourselves (disgusting as it may be) and stay connected through social media and the phone.
I have had to smack my hands away from my face 46 times during this writing.
I'm just going to have to face it!
