As we slide past that million deaths staring us down even deeper like a heavy weight, Covid death, death in the Ukraine, queer murders and weaponized terror all pale to what clearly is the oppressive fate of citizens like you and I Under His Eye. As I sit writing in my place I wonder how is it going at your place? Lately, I can keep it together as long as a few activities happen on the daily. The musts of my survival are essential and all so simple. At least this is my vantage. The list begins with the outdoors.

Yes, I walk, a lot. Or run or bike or ski or swim because I just need to keep moving especially when it mostly seems like I’m not going anywhere. Why? Because who doesn’t miss Charles shaking the martini shaker and making small talk the whole time as the bar got busy beyond Wednesday expectations but he’d hold it together all the same and keep your glass half full for the duration of the night. I miss that bar which ran the length of that super cute and lively chef-owned restaurant that was our clear go-to for every celebration worth celebrating but today I walk into the woods instead until it is in fact honest-to-God safe to eat indoors in a crowded small space again. There is an unlimited Earth for me to wander along the trails of the old rails or any dusty road or mossy path I choose. There I dream big old dreams of yester-year when this hadn’t hit us yet.

I play games too and crazy love when I’m a winner. Every time I break out in audible joy. I heart the wins.

We eat like Queens too and that is due to the absolute dedication of my most adoring spouse who concocts and deliveries homemade spring rolls and her legendary peanut sauce one night and the next she’s on to new cuisine. Eating clean keeps us feeling our very best just all the time and like clockwork she chefs like the best of them.

Of course the cherry on top is painting. Each time I pick a brush and color an easy smile spreads like bliss through my mind and rushes with each stroke, each layer, each new hue breaks like a summer’s day when perhaps you stumbled into a garden party and someone lent you an oversized floral hat and someone else lent you a skimpy shift and the rest is a smoky sky obscuring your every doubt so much that you change your name to Scarlet for three hours along with fictionalizing your straight path into a zigzag of interesting twists. Make Art. It will take you so far you will spin around on foreign soil even while your feet stay planted. You will give away all in a heartbeat and then have it course back through your every fiber. Perhaps it is love. The uncut kind. Yes, that love.

Lastly, you need, I need, we all need, to keep doing some of those very activities with like-minded ones and fortunately for me I have no qualms about crashing someone else’s party to join the fun. I’m saying yes more now when it feels right, getting outside to sweat in the sun or as night falls enjoy a tipsy ride feeling the light diminish on us while peepers decimate the silence like it was a heavy fog. Night riders dancing up a concert.

All in all, I do hope you have found what will keep you afloat and positive. After all, this is about the living through whatever comes our way, right? There is no backing away now.