Our first Zoom was on March 15 just as NYC was closing for quarantine. It was begun in anticipation of the anxiety quarantine would cause so many of us solo apartment dwellers, and others. And here we are, still going. As someone mentioned, maybe that we’re six months into this isn’t necessarily something to celebrate. But actually I think it is. A core group of people continue to come and enjoy good conversation, interesting speakers, and to support each other in our varied anxieties. We’ve gathered a group of engaged, polite, intelligent and basically nice people. They recognize that by showing up they’re not just doing it to enjoy themselves, they are helping to provide a quorum, a minyan, so that people can feel they are walking into a friendly, full “room.” So, again we had a good group show up, some who hadn’t come for a while.
We talked about how six months flew in a weird way, with time seeming to drag while at the same time flying. We talked about masks and how some of us are amassing a nice collection of them We talked about aromatherapy and how it’s a shame the American flag got co-opted by Trump supporters. We talked about watching cute animal videos to soothe ourselves, noting one about a horse reserve, one about a pet bat. We talked about community, about taking breaks from Zoom, about vaccines, about flu shots, and strangely about rashes. We discussed voting again, how the opening of schools is bringing in some COVID, and about Tik Tok and the White House’s attempt to shut the app. We rambled a bit about favorite actors and sports figures. And as we had a whiskey expert on the call we talked about booze, about our palates and about our food and drink preferences and about perfumes and scents. All a bit lighter than our past call and much welcomed for that.
