Convalescent

I’m like a convalescent who has been hidden in a facility for several years and is finally out. I don’t know how to explain to people why I’ve only now discovered the local art festival and the hot air balloon festival, why I’ve never been to the local public library, why I have no idea where the most famous local landmarks are, and so on. Everybody is stunned when I say I’ve lived here – “yes, right here, no, really, right here in town” – for over 8 years.

I wonder what they’d say if I revealed that I just learned the concept of folding laundry a year ago. And that’s not because it’s a complex idea to master but because the kind of life where you have the psychological energy to attend cultural events, fold laundry, and brush teeth twice a day seemed very exotic and out of reach.