Positively Tuesday-Old Magazines

    

     Let’s suffice it to say, DH’s family is not avid readers and the lack of reading material not brought by my family is minimal.  The cabin/house is an odd mix of not wanting clutter, yet clutter abounds in knick knacks my MIL still likes, plus the hideous lawn ornaments, with no special meaning, but just accrue each year.  We have tried to wean each other and the grandchildren from giving her gifts that will just add to the clutter outside and in. Mowing and weeding is a pain in the neck with the extra gems to work around. Dusting, which should take minutes, can be an hour  to move the little frogs and turtles and assorted picture frames. So while professing no one wants clutter, there is much.

      The game room, loft area,  has puzzles and board games that find their way onto the shelves. Stacks of DVD’s from when DVD’s first came out, either bought in quantities in the $1 bin at Walmart of the Dollar Tree or yard sales. Granted, there have been a couple good ones, and on a rainy day, nice for the kids to  watch up in the loft area. Yet, with all this supposed non-clutter, there are literally no book shelves holding old favorites. What does accumulate is old magazines, brought by my sister-in-law, after she has finished with them. I think they might be magazines passed on to her from other people, so already old when she gets them, and often a year or more old by the time they arrive on a little table between two recliners in the living room. Most are fine being that old-Better Homs and Garden, Martha Stewart Living, Guide Posts, nothing changes in terms of style, food, and inspiration from one year to the next.

     Last week I got caught up with a good stack of  BHG from July-December 2019. Wile normally I wouldn’t even notice if they were a year old, the absence of words like social distancing, quarantine, lockdown and of course Covid, was strikingly noticeable. And it was so nice! I lament a lot, maybe more than others, maybe less than I could, about how I am getting Covid fatigue, and just want something to be normal again. Diving into these old magazines gave me a taste of it. For instance, picking up the September issue and seeing all the cute backpack, and prepared lunch box items let me see that life can be normal again. There weren’t articles about managing hybrid learning models while working form home. There wasn’t one mention of keeping your holiday dinner table to less than 10, and making sure you are only having Thanksgiving within your chosen bubble of people. There was not a pattern in sight for mask making, and no homages to front line workers though I would be fine with those how of support pandemic or no pandemic.)

      So while I had to settle for my own books, and have decided DH and I will be starting a small library in our own room, I really appreciated the reading materials left from last fall. We have limited hours in our public library, but I think I may take time it to visit the old stacks of magazines, and pick up some for some non-pandemic reminiscing, and with that, feel like life can and will be a bit better again.