04/20 & 21/2020

Normal adjective nor·mal/ˈnôrməl/

 ordinary or usual; the same as would be expected

Synonyms for normal: average, common, commonplace, cut-and-dried, everyday, garden-variety, ordinary, prosaic, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, standard-issue, unexceptional, unremarkable, usual, workaday

Antonyms for normal:  abnormal, exceptional, extraordinary, odd, out-of-the-way, strange, unusual

So did you ever think you would be craving “normal”? I think most people take normal for granted but in these last 30 plus days of sheltering in place our “normal” has been shaken to the core. I have wished for our normal to come back all most everyday. Every word listed in antonyms pretty much describes the last 5 weeks. Strangely enough, normal is starting to take on a whole new landscape and I suspect our old normal is not going to be the new normal, I don’t necessarily like it but it may just roll that way.

The last two days have almost felt normal…old normal. Mostly because did some things that we have not been able to do for quite a while. We actually had dinner at someone’s house which definitely could be described as a antonym for normal right now! The other big exciting news was that Riverside County Health Officials lifted the ban on golfing, tennis and PICKLEBALL!!!!! WOO-HOO, we played for a couple of hours on Tuesday which again felt more like an antonym. So how confusing is that??

So here is how day Thirty Two and Thirty Three of our sheltering in place went:

• Kristen and I walked 3.5 miles and found these amazing beauties:

• Wally, Kristin and I played pickleball – again WOO-HOO!!!

• We went to a friends in Palm Springs for dinner. I brought an appetizer, crab cakes with a curry garlic aoili which were served with a boozy, lemon slushee. Lemons fresh off our tree!!!

• Had a Zoom happy hour and REAL Ladies Happy Hour …again confusing because the real, meaning we were all sitting around together in one place, happy hour felt normal but in a abnormal way.

Day Thirty One, Thirty Two and Thirty Three all felt almost normal again. What three days in a row ???? Confusing as it all is right now it felt good to feel “almost normal”.