cold November rain...

we are almost 8 months into Covid...we are almost at election day, when we may know, or not know who will lead this country as we creep towards winter...and move indoors...and tempt our fate...we are tired...getting lazy...jaded and sloppy...and our medical community is pausing for a deep breath...getting ready once more...New York, once nearly the hottest Covid spot in the world...we are at the precipice...and I feel tired...don't you?...I look at my reflection on Zoom...and FaceTime...and in the mirror...and that scares me too...the virus takes its toll in so many ways...I desperately miss the movies, yet cannot bring myself to walk into a theater...fearing that I will look right...then left...see lowered masks...then walk...and for a devoted movie fan...I am sorry to inform...Netflix and any streaming service on your television or laptop at home does not replace that feeling as the lights fade in a movie theater...and you hear the hum and the previews begin...I will not discuss theater...because I will cry...there is nothing that will replace the feeling I would get as the lights would dim and the orchestra would play that first note...or the spotlight warmed the profile of an actor facing the audience and uttering the first word...nothing...I recently took some old vinyl from Mom's house...Broadway albums I played over and over in my youth...hoping to lift my spirits playing them on a vinyl turntable I bought a few years ago...the scratches and lousy acoustics heartwarming...the lyrics and chorus familiar and uplifting...because this is the reality...the warm breezes of Indian Summer are gone...the statistics more chilling than November rain...this Thanksgiving I will be thankful for never having to see another ad about Max Rose or Nicole Malliotakis...and I will be thankful that G-d has granted me and those I love good health...but also anger that the tables across this country will be smaller this year...that we may not sit together as we crave more than that favorite holiday dish...and that so many will have empty seats...Covid...and so more than the Macy's parade...or the svelte legs of the Rockettes...I wish crowded tables extending into oblivion next year...and this is what keeps me up at night...listening to the November rain on the roof...darkness in late afternoon...in 2020...