... You Get What You Need

Back in 2013 or was it a couple weeks ago, there was this big charity concert with Lady Gaga and a bunch of performers including The Rolling Stones.   It was pretty cool, they did a zoom-like concert and it was funny because three out of the four screens were all black... for effect,  I think because they came on one by one. It seemed to me it was of a bunch of 70-year-olds trying to figure out how to get the damn video and audio to work-  but nevertheless, they sang my favorite  song , “You can’t always get what you want ........you get what you need.”   Great song choice and of course it got me thinking of how much I really have. I’ve seen memes all over the place, but the one that stuck with me was the one that said “when the dust settles, we will  find out how little we need and how much we actually have”  or something like that.
Now being Sicilian, we were bred to be able to live with only what we needed instead of what we wanted.  I mean if we had everything we wanted,  we’d be looking over our shoulders our whole lives waiting for someone to put the “Molokio” on us and take it all the way. We grew up kind of modestly, we never went on big vacations, we never had expensive things or fancysmancy clothes. (Google “Plain Pocket Jeans” from Sears ...I wore those in a world of Levi’s) but we had what we needed.  Aside from being distanced from my grandchildren, my children, my family and dear friends (and possibly restaurants,)  I’ve kind of settled into this new way of simpler life. That being said, when the time is right, I will RUN to DisneyLand/World and wrap my arms around a face masked  Mickey Mouse and gladly buy another over priced Minnie Mouse coffee mug. Those recent Disney trips were a long time coming in my life and I’m happy to have all those memories if I never get there again ...but I really really want to - when it’s safe, Disney safe, which means those little Cinderella mice better get busy cleaning and disinfecting.

Now that I’ve settled in to this life style, I have to say if my husband makes one more FUCKING glass of Kool Aid in a plastic cup and stirs it a freaking million times and leaves the spoon on the counter....well, I can not be responsible for my actions. I would be justifiable homicide if you heard the sound of the stirring...the STIRRING.  It’s like nails on a chalkboard if the chalkboard were in hell and the nails were covered in tinfoil and we were all on fire...GET IT?
<big exhale> Since I’m on a roll... People on tv can stay saying “ Due to COVID -19” or “In these  uncertain times”.... we get it , is there anyone in the world who doesn’t get it ..? We’re 100 weeks in  for God’s sake.   The people who are wondering why things are closed and cancelled are probably the same people who are adding Lysol to their coffee.
This feels great... And enough with that  State Farm commercial where they sing ....and we’ll rise up...” at first it made me tear eyed ....now every time I hear it I wan to put my wrinkly, dried skinned fist through the screen ...especially when it’s followed by the ear worm inducing flea and tick anthem SERESTO SERESTO SERESTO ... and my personal favorite..Oh Oh Oh Ozempic.

Stop watching TV you say ...shut up, it’s all I have left and all my real (housewives) friends are there.
My friend and fellow Gaga is also there on TV ....with her friends Sirs Paul and Elton and Mick and all the rest of the Stones and I wish they would sing more of their quarantine inspired songs:
Miss You
Shattered
Gimme Shelter (in place)
Time on my Side
Mother’s Little Helper - my personal favorite
Emotional Rescue
Ruby Tuesday (or is it Wednesday?)
19th Nervous Breakdown
And...
HEY (hey) YOU (you) Get off of my Couch

All kidding (?) and virus aside, I do kind of feel like the rest of the world is kind of catching up the way I lived, financially and emotionally.  Not being able to do things or afford things because of a job loss or a layoff was kind of our reality when we were raising our children.  All too well, I remember what it’s like not being able to go anywhere or do anything and making do with in our own family. I think we are all so close because of it, at least I hope that’s what came out of it, and it will again.
Also, as a hypochondriac and Vice President of the disease of the month club (Yes, Vice President...there are people out there way worse than I,)  I have lived in constant fear of a virus or disease sweeping the world since I read Stephen King’s “The Stand” back in the 70s.  Seriously,  every time I heard of a measles or a whooping cough outbreak on the news, I would curl into a little ball in the corner and worry that this is it .....this is the big one!  Well, this is the big one and other than my sporadic fear laden tears  and daily mini panic attacks,  I am trying to handle the situation in only way I know how. Just live and thank God everyday for our family’s continued health.

A very sweet friend of mine told me a little sweet story of how he heard the birds singing a little extra loud one morning and it hit him that amidst the whole situation,  birds were singing because that’s what they do. He continued to say maybe we just need to keep on doing what we do ...just keep on living... keep on loving  and keep on taking care of one another.... and hope for better days and a better world....possibly in November ....just sayin’.