Take one walk in nature and call me in the morning.

Cue my beloved Beatles:

"Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head..."

Only make it a brush.

Anyway, I'm proud of myself this morning because even though I'm afraid right now, not to sugarcoat it:  it's pretty much abject fear, regarding no income (although I'm okay on that front for a while, but I don't want to be burning through my savings!!!) and no health insurance (ABJECT fear, 24/7), I got myself up and fed the pets, ate a super healthy breakfast (three ingredients, people:  one organic banana, organic plain yogurt, and organic cinnamon--woot!), and then went out and WALKED with my dear dog.

What a beautiful morning in St. Petersburg, Florida!  I thought it was going to be too hot already, as the sun coming in through the windows was already intense at around 8:55 a.m.  But no, though it was sunny, it was also still mercifully cool and there was a blissfully refreshing, cool sea breeze coming in from the Gulf, if I'm not mistaken about the wind direction.

The star jasmine is in wonderfully fragrant bloom throughout my neighborhood, including on my own little fence between the front and back yard, and Hurley and I got refreshingly oxygenated with fresh air, infused with jasmine.  I noticed that a jacaranda tree was also in lavender bloom, and so many other plants and trees are flowering away.

I highly recommend getting outside and walking as the best anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, anti-fear, empowering tonic available!

The jasmine, the jacaranda, the sea breeze, all were saying, in their way, a line from a song that I can't stand EXCEPT when nature says it to me:  "Don't worry, be happy."  When nature says it, I believe it.  "Be here now," it followed with.  And I was able to.  And I'm grateful.

A Little Jab'll Do Ya

40,000 children under the age of 18 in the United States have now lost *at least* one parent to COVID-19.

All:  get vaccinated.  For yourself, to be here for your children (and/or fur children!), and literally for all of humanity.  It will take most of us getting vaccinated to stop this thing.  The two mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) have proven to be very, very (amazingly) effective and safe.

I personally, while definitely NOT an "anti-vaxxer", am a critical consumer of vaccines, as well as of all pharmaceuticals.  I am not on ANY prescriptions, which is highly unusual (sad to say, since it shouldn't be!) for an American, period, let alone for an American over age 40.  Because I ask questions and I say no to things.  I don't even usually get a flu shot, because I take elderberry, strategically, during flu season.  So I'm not one to just blindly jump on a vaccine bandwagon and ride, Sally, ride.  But on the COVID-19 vaccines, YES, I am 100% gung ho.

Why?  Because if we don't box this thing in, giving it nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, we will never get out of THIS.  As in, this last year-plus that we've all lived through.  We will never get back to anything resembling, as I heard someone so poetically and poignantly put it a while back, "The Before Times".

Twitter version:  get your COVID-19 vaccination, for goodness sake.  I've got one dose of Pfizer on board and cannot wait for my second (but I will wait, and get it at the 21-day mark).  I don't have human children, much to my own sadness.  But I was still first in line the nanosecond I became eligible.  For ALL the children of the world!  If one has children of one's own, I can't imagine that one hesitating for a moment, as two little jabs in the arm (one, with J & J, but personally, I'd go--and did/am going--with Pfizer...but I digress) will ensure that you are here for them.

Cherry Blossoms

When I was a child
We’d go downtown
To see the cherry blossoms
It was a rite of Spring
Beautiful pale pink blossoms
Against the true blue sky
Reflecting in the water
We’d walk around all the monuments to democracy
To solving things non-violently
To freedom
To the rule of law
We’d walk all around the Tidal Basin
In my hometown
Washington, DC
Celebrating freedom
Today, on this beautiful Spring day
I felt lighter than I have in years
And more relaxed
Until I turned on the news
This afternoon

When I was a child
The cherry blossoms were so beautiful
In my hometown
This afternoon
I turned on the TV
And my Spring went away
My lightness left
My heart sank
Police tape surrounding
A cherry blossom tree
Police tape everywhere
A car, hazard lights flashing mutely
Driven into a barrier
Driven into Capitol Police Officers
A man with a knife
What are they saying?
What happened?
It is with a heavy heart
Said the grieving soul with a mask
The Acting Capitol Police Chief
That I tell you
One officer has succumbed
My heart went to my throat
We used to walk around the cherry blossom trees
We, the people
The children
No barriers, no fear of our fellow countrymen and women
We surrounded the cherry blossom trees
Not police tape
And grieving people
In shock
In Washington, DC
Washington’s at its best in Spring, my mom would say
With the cherry blossoms
Let’s go see them
Let’s go
To the impossibly pink blossoms
And sky
And Tidal Basin
And monuments to democracy
Can we go there?
Please?