It’s not over yet.
COVID, that is.
People are still coming down with it, suffering long-term effects from it and vaccines to help prevent it are still out there.
But, for the most part, the world, as we knew it, has returned to normal.
And for that, we should be grateful.
But, we’re not. At least some of us are not.
Count me in.
I’m one of them. One of the rain-drenched Albertans who momentarily forgot to be grateful that we are seeing the backside of the pandemic.
I forgot to be grateful that the world as we knew it, has returned to normal, most because, at the moment, normal doesn’t seem that great either.
Normal is filling up at the gas tank and replaying the horrible experience many times over throughout the day.
“It cost me a hundred bucks to fill up. One hundred and thirty, that’s what I paid. Well, I only put in $50 and my tank is almost half full.”
And so the conversation goes, stimulated by a few, or more than a few drinks of some kind of alcoholic beverage or, at the very least, several cups of caffeinated coffee.
And normal is rain. Lot of rain, falling like unwanted tears on picnics, parades, ball tournaments and backyard celebrations involving graduates.
Yes, it’s easy to be grouchy. Count me in.
I’m one of them. I’m one of those rain-drenched Albertans who just begrudgingly put 50 bucks worth of gas in my car and drove off to see the needle on the gas gauge painstakingly rise to just over the halfway mark.
Last week I went out for supper with a girlfriend, carefully grooming myself so as to minimize my wrinkles and show off my latest hairstyle which included lots of primping, and head shaking to achieve the desired tousled, but perfect look.
The minute I walked outside the wind and rain immediately whipped my beautifully coiffed hair into humble submission. “I look like a drowned rat,” I think to myself, as I risk a glance in the review mirror. Of course, I have no idea what a drowned rat would look like, nor do I have any desire to know, but you get the idea.
Anyway, the rain continues to pour as I write this and I think about the ball tournaments and the backyard graduation celebration planned for this weekend and, darn it, once again I forget to feel grateful.
Surely to goodness, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!
Well, maybe I’ll just have another cup of coffee and be grateful I don’t have to drive anywhere today. And, I will remember the words of Scarlett O’Hara in the movie, Gone With The Wind.
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
And a quote by me.
Surely to goodness, the sun has to come out sometime. Just be sure to notice it when it does!
Treena Mielke is a Central Alberta writer. She lives in Sylvan Lake with her family.