Monday, April 27, 2020

A man waves a bouquet of flowers above his head. He is talking on his phone, too quietly for me to eavesdrop. I follow his gaze. Three floors up, someone waves at him from a porch, also talking on the phone. Two girls on pink bicycles with matching helmets, one with training wheels, one without, roll between the man and me. Another child comes toward us with her mother, keeping one hand on a stroller. She takes a step with her right foot, hops in the air with her left, then repeats. I don’t know if she is still learning to walk or just finds moving like that fun. I’m surprised to see that the produce shop is closed, then remember that it’s Monday. Many small stores close here on Monday afternoons. I’m told that’s when they do store-to-store business. I have a hard time remembering what day it is. They aren’t blurring together as they did when I was stuck at home, but the rhythms of the week are off. Several of the TV shows that I follow are preempted or in reruns until they can finish new episodes. We’ve had two of the three past Wednesdays and one of the Thursdays off for the beginning and end of Passover. This Wednesday, we’ll have another for Independence Day. The Sabbath still comes each week, as usual, but other days feel random. I realize that I’m lucky, at least, that they don’t all feel the same.