A Day Off

It’s my day off

Which is funny because

Now lots of people don’t have days off

Or only have days off

Depending on how you look at it

I do freelance contract work

And happen to be in a busy period right now

Work picked up the week everything shut down

So after spending two months

Depressed and moping around

With no work and no energy

Suddenly I am back in the swing

And just as suddenly

America mostly shuts down

And everyone starts Going Live

And Zooming around

And creating stuff and saying stuff

Stuff I thought of but didn’t get to writing down

Before someone else said it

Because I am working most days

Two different jobs

Glad am I to have the work

For however long it lasts

But doing the work is not always easy

I want to Go Live

I want to Zoom

But I’m too tired by the day’s end

Aren’t we all?

The really funny thing is

I worked for Whole Foods for 20 years

Yes, and who would have guessed

Grocery store workers were to become

Not even two years after my departure

The new heroes of our day?

I of course had always known this

The importance of sanely produced healthy food

Is not to be underestimated

We are all appreciating it now

But it’s the reason I devoted

Two decades of my life to a grocery store

It was also a movement

Which is why I was so devoted

I loved Whole Foods

And it loved me back

Let me put it this way

They have these awards called All*Stars

Which are like the Oscars of Whole Foods

And not to brag but I have four

I was like the Katharine Hepburn of Whole Foods

Is what I am saying

I did various things but mostly

Communication that went to thousands of people

But things slowly changed

And after

What we called a merger

And they called an acquisition

(I won’t speak the name here but everyone knows)

It turned out

My heart, my magic and my medicine

Which was for so long a part of the team

Was no longer needed

They slowly shut me out

Until I got the hint and left

I don’t regret leaving

Though I miss many of the leaders

Wonder about them and wish them well

I never knew such a good group of people

As I did at Whole Foods

Seriously it truly used to be all about the love

I hear it’s not like that now

Under their new master

But

Wow

Am I glad to see Team Members

Finally getting some credit

May they soon also get the wages

And support they deserve

May we all

The irony is not lost on me

That for 20 years I had

Protections benefits perks

And now I am in that category

With no safety net at all

The ones that falls through the economic cracks

An independent worker and part-time musician

I don’t get paid for musician

So it doesn’t count

Even though I still have to put in

All the time and the energy

Writer too, and I don’t get paid for that either

Which means

No artists’ grants or loans available

No unemployment available

No sick leave or paid time off for me

Just hours that are likely to slow as the economy slows

I wonder how many in America are like me?

How many will receive that $1200

And that is it?

Well, for now I have work

And a day off even!

When I wasn’t working

I never had the pleasure of a day off

I notice that this whole Thing has pointed out

How much I took for granted

Even while practicing daily gratitude

I mean

Look your window

The world is still beautiful

And where I am right now

It’s a gorgeous sunny spring day

Time to clear a space for the garden

And plant some seeds

For the future

And hope for the best