Notes from Maine - 2020/12/19
Christmas really snuck up on me this year.
Blame in on the pandemic or the postal issues, but I’ve done very little for Christmas aside from send out a handful of cards. I will be (happily) staying at home for the holiday. It’s something I’ve always aspired to do, but I usually feel like I have to travel to see family. Maybe I’ll regret it on the day, but I want to do my part to keep from possibly spreading anything.
Looking back at 2020, I’ve been really lucky in a lot of ways. My father had to have surgery on his back, but that meant I got to spend a lot of time with him when he recovered at my house. It was frustrating, exhausting, and I went a little insane at times, but I’m already looking back on that time fondly.
I was also blessed with many trips from family. Everything was done responsibly—people obeyed the state mandate and got tested before they came. The remote school and work situation meant that my sister, nephew, and my nephew’s father were able to come and stay for weeks at a time. Mom also came and worked on projects here since she’s “done” with projects at her own house.
The best times were the overlapping visits. There was a brief period where my mother and father actually slept under the same roof for the first time in forty years. That was interesting, to say the least.
When this is all over, I think that I’ll feel nostalgic about 2020 and I will treasure even more the time I get to spend with my friends. Since it got cold, I barely see friends in person anymore. It’s going to be months until we can all sit in the living room, complaining about a movie together. It might be brief, but for a little while I can imagine we’re all going to be thrilled to have a mask-less conversation, or (heaven forbid) an actual hug.
I haven’t put any masks or COVID themes into my stories, at least not directly. Recently, I wrote a class-based story (Factions) that explored the mental breakdown of a person who was presented with a faux class distinction mixed with his struggle between being polite and being weak. That story mirrored my anger at artificial divisions between people, but I didn’t talk directly about politics or pandemics. I would rather stick to the paranormal side of horror and science fiction.
Today, I’m sending out a book about a family curse. I’m sure you’ll draw your own conclusions about what it really means, but to me this book was about the stories we tell ourselves and how that shapes the world around us. Everything is perception. It’s possible to believe anything if you try hard enough.
I hope you’re well, and you’re able to spend time with the people you love.
