COVID has been a constant reality – almost unabated – since mid-March 2020.

For 18 months we’ve put our lives on hold! Holy crap!

We altered every routine and habit, whether held for fifty years or ten. Just to deal with an issue that got fumbled and bumbled into a crisis beyond all expectations by a bad man. I’m not gonna lie… while I tried to be flexible and positive, I got pissed when the anti-vaxxers/anti-maskers sent us over the edge, back into a sequestered and fearful life.

For 18 months we abided by medical science’s best practices and intentions. While the lines of communication weren’t always clear – because the virus was novel – we trusted the information. Not so, the unhip antivaxxers/anti-maskers. They plodded and plotted and resisted throughout. With deadly consequences for them and their families. As well as our country’s will.

Holy crap! Death was their payback for being wrong.

While my armada of masks hadn’t been stowed away for long (maybe ten weeks), I adopted them again. After all, wearing a mask had a benefit – no make up beyond eyebrows and lashes. Time and money were saved with I purchased few new garments, purses or shoes, too.

Lately I’ve wanted out of the trap laid out by those deviant, ill-mannered louts. I desired to be sane as well as safe. I wanted to be me, myself, and I again, to be fully who I’d been pre-COVID.

I began to dab perfume behind my ears, elbows, and knees – and lipstick on my lips.

Wee things, but it’s sweet things. Things that make me feel pretty again, a bold presence rather than one who’s merely existing.

The perfume I’ve worn since age 16: “Blue Grass” by Elizabeth Arden. The lipstick I’ve worn since age 32: Spiced Cider by Estee Lauder.

What have you done to self-care and resume your full self, Constant Reader?