Quarantine Quiet

I think that’s my favorite part. Everything is quieter, somehow.

There’s still an occassional siren, the annoying motorcycle blaring down the street, and children screaming and screeching outside.

Yet, there’s no traffic. There’s no hustle/bustle of construction workers, or work trucks rumbling by. There’s no outdoor noice violators, no parties in the park, no gaggles of loudmouthed teens catcalling their neighbors at 11 PM.

There’s no more work phone buzzing daily. Just the quiet headset and conference call where most of the participants sit on mute. There’s no jangle of a doorway opening, or a customer walking in.

The house is quieter, because we can only watch so much so we listen instead. Soft radio stations playing in the background. Sometimes an album or a podcast. But often, we just kinda let it all fade away and sit in silence, quietly working or keeping busy.

The nights are quieter, although I’m not sure if we’re all going to sleep earlier or just laying around bored.

There’s fewer things outside for the dog to bark at. Aside from her enforcement of social distancing by verbally acosting the few pedestrians that walk by, there’s not really anything going on for her to patrol. She just lays around waiting for walks.

And inside my head, where my thoughts used to tumble in a laundry load of checklists and to-do’s, it’s so much quieter. I have fewer things to worry about or focus on. I have more time now - more time to get things done, more time to relax, more time to focus on what matters.

Maybe eventually I’ll get tired of it and wish for the sounds and the hum of busy life again.

But honestly? I’m not sure I’ll miss it that much.