DAY 330: After Enlightenment: Wash Dishes, Carry Trash

Let me start off by admitting I have about a half a cup of warmth left over from Yule's spiked wassail, but I don't have a thimble full of Christmas spirit. Few people I've been in touch with lately do either. For many years, I've seen more down and out than comfort and joy come midwinter. This year has been especially difficult. But I am still living my dream ... in place ... thanks to Covid.

Let me show you a small piece of that dream. Dishes. For well more than a week, I've had no running water in the bus (don't ask ... and yes) so I've been bringing my dishes into the house to wash while warming leftovers in the microwave. More often than not, other members of the skoolie family are in the shared space, sometimes washing dishes in the side-by-side sink, so it becomes a social, more enjoyable chore. The magic continues only because of other mundane tasks of daily living such as scooping the litter box, emptying trash, mopping the floor and waiting in line to dry clothes. The me of five years ago would have been pouty about having to walk into another building to take a shower or juggling dishes up a short flight of steps to bring them to a communal kitchen, only to return to the bus to get the dish soap and a towel.

But today, I feel very, very blessed and extremely grateful for it, "witch," I am convinced, is the reason for more blessings. One of them being the universe's gift to me: forcing me to order enough pizza for the next few days because I will run out of frozen vegetables this afternoon. That leaves Domino's veggie lovers pizza their only available source. If it weren't for the progress I've made working with my 5-year-old shadow self, the order placed for delivery later today would have also contained marbled cookie brownies or chocolate lava crunch cakes. (Who am I kidding ... she would have gotten both!)