It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post — much too long. It’s not that I haven’t thought about resuming my blog, but until now, something always seemed to get in the way. The days since I retired from my social work job two and a half years ago have whisked by at breakneck speed but one thing has been a constant — I’ve been writing. Now that I’ve returned to blogging, I’ll fill you in soon on what I’ve been up to, but today I have something else in mind —my jewelry. It’s calling to me. Since my husband and I put ourselves in isolation several weeks ago — just to be safe and make sure we keep other people safe too — I’ve been wearing my workout clothes every day. No jeans, no sweaters, and no jewelry. Every time I look in the mirror — not my favorite activity these days, since my hair seems to be turning gray at an alarming rate now that it hasn’t been colored for way too long — I realize that I’m just not me without my jewelry, especially my earrings. So I made a commitment — every day from now on until the governor tells us it’s safe to go out again, I’ll wear a different pair of earrings here at home from my not so haute couture costume jewelry collection. How often do we get to wear every pair of earrings we own — even the ones that never seem to match anything in our closet? And what are the parameters of “isolation chic” anyway? Who knows… if we’re still social distancing months from now—hard to imagine! — and I run out of earrings — also hard to imagine! —I may move on to necklaces. But no bracelets and no rings. They cramp my hand washing routine, and I won’t let anything come between me and those virus-killing soap suds!

Today I chose to wear a brand new pair of earrings I found on the clearance rack at Macy’s just a couple of months ago. They’re my favorite color — hot pink — which totally perks me up. I think they add some pizazz to to my basic black sweatshirt, don’t you? (And I threw on the fuchsia scarf for my afternoon social distance walk!)

Humor is what I turn to in difficult and painful times but please know that my heart is aching for everyone around the world who is suffering because of this horrific public health crisis.