Making Memories

KARYN SUGGS

March 29, 2020

Way around the enormous structure of limited resources

Foragers assemble, six feet apart,

Waiting for the gatekeepers to allow entry:

“No more than 50 patrons at a time!”

Time to swallow hard again to stifle my tickling cough.  

Allergies… right?

I see faces averting, eyes not encouraging the forgone greetings of yesterday.

Yesterday, I was a hugger.  Were you?

Let’s greet one another with an elbow tap!

I don’t have six-foot elbows, and by the way, 

I coughed into mine earlier, so you don’t want to tap that

That which has consumed all of humanity,

Robbing us of our concentration, our motivation, our destinations home and abroad,

Forcing us to be alone, together.

Together alone is ideal for some.

Distancing socially is my son’s dream come true.  

His life ambition to be a pro-gamer no longer interrupted by adult responsibilities.

He has been training for this all his 20something years.  

Years from now, he might remember this as one of the best times of his life.

I wish you the memory of mere inconvenience and quality family time.

Those who have lost will not remember this that way.

KARYN SUGGS is a K-12 educator and graduate student working towards her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction at Texas Tech University, specializing in Language, Diversity, and Literacy.