Angelique Ascending

I have been home from work for nearly three weeks; this morning someone asked me how I'm dealing with the isolation. In truth, this period of staying home has not been much different than my usual time away from work, except there is a lot more of it. I have played with crafting tools and reorganized my kitchen storage. I learned how to bake bread. I am recording and editing with unprecedented efficiency. My apartment is the cleanest it's ever been. I have been largely okay, though my days at times seem repetitive and mundane.

Then a friend died. 

I found out through social media, of course, as this is the purpose of social media: keeping us up to date on the comings and goings of distant friends and acquaintances in our peripheral. I caught the beautifully-written post of her "ascending", and had to read it twice to understand that this lovely and vibrant human being was no longer on this earth. 

She was a friend I should have made more time for, gotten to know better. She was not twenty-nine years old - her energy was contagious and her artwork provoking. The last time I saw her she was showing me a project she was working on, a piece displaying delicious womanly strength with just a hint of wickedness. She was one-of-a-kind, a bright spirit like no other. 

All the crying has fogged up my brain, and I can't think past the current moment to the next. Life is so short, and sometimes it is not fair. And right now, I am not okay.