Flesh and blood

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She knocked on the door, which I was not expecting. Social distancing rules have felled any hope of close contact with anyone outside my immediate bubble. But knock she did. So I opened the door. 

And there she was. In full three dimensionality. From head to toe, she was present in front of me. And it was so strange. 


Oh, I knew her, as we work together and talk frequently, but only on the screen. Before that day of the knock on the door, I had never laid eyes on her as flesh-and-blood. And it was so strange! 


She was masked and she stood a ways back, handed me the item she had brought, and we exchanged a few words. I did not cross the threshold, but the encounter was exciting. And then she turned and left. 


It took me a while to make sense of what I was feeling — a mixture of excitement and sadness. 


The excitement came from having, for the first time in months and months, actually seen my colleague rather than just viewing her on the screen. Before that encounter, I had not appreciated how powerful that flesh-and-blood sighting would be during these uber-connected but distanced COVID times. However, in that moment at the door, I knew — viscerally — just how meaningful a direct, face-to-face encounter can be, though it took a few moments longer for me to understand it intellectually.


England is opening up, with hugging once again permitted, but my home province of Manitoba is now Canada’s hotspot for COVID-19 cases: such a sad No. 1 spot to hold. So we have no choice: Stay home. Stay safe. Keep the distance. Use technology to mediate our connections. And know just how powerful — and precious — the face-to-face and flesh-to-flesh encounters will be when we can, once again, enjoy them fully free and unmediated by mask or screen. 



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A Post a Day in May No. 18 For the past two years, I have posted something to this blog every single day in May. This year, I hope to do it again. 


Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash 


Comments

  1. AnnMay 18, 2021 at 5:35 AM

    I am amongst the 61% of New Yorkers who are vaccinated, free to go maskless, well kinda sorta, able to mingle freely with other vaccinated people. This is opening day for our local baseball team. Restaurants and bars are once again in business. Kids are mostly back in school, and, statewide, New York has achieved a positivity rate of 1. This is fantastic.

    Yet I don't have the need to see, hug, entertain indoors, go out for dinner and drinks, any of that.

    I am now an official hermit!

    I suppose reentry will happen in its time. But not just yet.

    ReplyDelete

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