It’s Crazy Making

I can see how a person could go crazy.

Say, you live alone and you are already prone to depression. And the days are relentless, they just keep coming. And no amount of Facetime or Zoom changes the fact that there is no one there. You’re by yourself.

Everyone says to stay home. Flatten the curve. Social distance. But the distance is driving you mad, madder than Mr. Rochester’s wife locked in the tower except you don’t want to burn everything down.

You just want to be with other people. And then one day you decide that being with other people is less dangerous than being alone. And so that is what you do and you don’t worry about the curve or the distance.

I can see how a person could come to that way of thinking. And I don’t judge, because I have someone. I have this companionship, this protection, this cushion, a set of orange cones to keep me from running off the road. I have work and my dogs and a routine and a thick blanket on my lap while I look at the rain beading up on the bush outside the window and I have my partner whose answer to everything is “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

Yes, I can see how a person could go crazy. On their own. Day after day. Flattening. Distancing. Alone. I get it. I really do.