Day 46….....is not NBC.

It’s …………….NYC...May... something - or the other, and I don’t know or……. barely know my neighbors. I know the guys at the deli ….Muhammed and Muhammed and Muhammed…...and baby Muhammed.......or the OGs who toss sweet kisses and compliments to my unmasked or now masked face. The old guys love me.

Others……... Random occupants, I spy on the 12 fire escapes facing me in the back alleyway of my apartment building not acknowledging each other but I know they hear my Bill Withers anthologies blasting from my bedroom window and groove along with "Gramas Hands".

Them and theirs chiefing, at the impromptu weekday brunch hour - when Andrew Cuomo finishes his daily briefings.

My neighbor in 2b is married to the thugest black man and can probably stomp me with a sneeze. She has the sweetest smile and the sweetest pit bull but when I ask her "how are you?" --she replies "I'm barely holding on." She works at the ASPCA. I don't know her name.

I wonder about the old lady above me, who I hear at 4 am in the morning. I wonder if she’s okay. Should I knock on her door? I'm not sure. I would hate to have her leave the comfort of her chair or bed to tell me she’s okay. I leave her alone. I don't want her to die...alone

The ambulance sirens have lessened....... but not stopped.

I've attempted a run by the river at an hour I determined to be safe but as great as it was, I felt like a cat running in the rain trying not to get wet.

People.

Without regard.

People who don’t see how they affect each other.

Runners with masks or no masks without ample space.

Walkers with children spanning across the path not caring if you have to scrunch pass them. Cyclists who wiz by you, sweat ----- trailing and trailing.

All I wanted was to have breath with consideration... But sigh…… sadly the ones out don’t get it.... the ones in...... do.

COVID Mary, Harry, and little Suzie have my silent resentment ....I curb it because it's not ....okay.

Every day is an adjustment in my mental shift. Ahhh grasshopper.........

I may not know my neighbors

but....

At 7 PM I know we rally and cheer without fail for the healthcare, MTA, grocery, garbage, postal, and delivery workers of New York City.

---- we rally for the neighbors of our world, we rally .....because this is a real-life this is us. This is not NBC............. it's real.