Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Things Are Looking Up

Skylar no longer has time for basic news. If I'm being honest, I'm jealous of the result, but not of the means and methods to get to that result.

Medical school rotations are somehow even more miserable than my worst expectations. I'm talking about my experience with them, of course. I don't know how Skylar feels about it all, exactly. I can only make an educated guess by collecting the evidence and scrutinizing it. Bags under his eyes. His mysterious disappearance every morning before I wake up. The perpetual state of verging on tears. 

He slumps into the house every evening and inhales whatever slop I've just finished cooking. "I only have five minutes," he'll say. That means he's about to take residency on the west end of the couch, put on noise-canceling headphones, and study until midnight.

"What happened today in the news?"

I admire the desire to stay up to date, and I envy the ignorance in These Unprecedented Times.

But what an incredible amount of pressure to put on little old me. I'm exclusively responsible for curating his view of the world. If I don't want him to know about something like, oh, say, an insurrection at the Capitol, I can basically keep that information from him. I can shape his world view in any way I'd like.

"Well there's a new strain of Coronavirus that has now reached the United States," my brain tells me to say.

"Someone blew up an entire city block in Nashville," I feel compelled to inform him. 

"Our state legislature is currently trying to codify their overwhelming trans and homophobia, once again," I start to bombard him.

But then I stop myself. I say none of it. 

"Honestly, everything is looking up."

"Good," he'll mutter.

He doesn't believe me. I know he doesn't. But I don't think it really matters.

Sometimes you just need someone to tell you things are looking up.

~It Just Gets Stranger

10 comments:

  1. Things are looking up and ugh why is it so cute with the feet because feet aren’t even cute but somehow that is and stop it. And if you delete this comment i will send Skylar a message with ALL THE REALEST NEWS. (Ok, you caught me. I could never break his heart like that. But I would send it to... Meg? My threats are so empty.)

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    Replies
    1. The feet are completely the first thing I noticed in that picture as well.

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  2. I had forgotten about the Nashville bombing — that’s how routinely messed up our news is, it didn’t even stand out to me.

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  3. I came here to laugh but I’m crying because this is so sweet?

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  4. I know he’s a grown man and very smart and he’s dealing with a lot already but PROTECT SKYLAR AT ALL COSTS.

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  5. How do I sign up for this service? I'll stop watching the news, and you call me every day and tell me everything is fine. I'd pay for that.

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    Replies
    1. Second. How about a Patreon option where you get access to the Eli daily news download?

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    2. I could finally start doing the hard-hitting journalism I've always dreamed of doing.

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  6. Thank you for this.

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  7. You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.

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