The Better Call

 At some point during 2020 we needed legal advice. Our lives had become a cluster and cyclone of chaos. We lost track of time and maybe our careers and sometimes our children. Bursts of enthusiasm were often followed by waves of disappointment. We tried to explain to our kids what we could not understand ourselves. If time was of the essence, we could not even define the word essence. The utterance of "new normal" was like an eternal hiccup. I, myself, have become vomitus to all that is virtual. 

And then we started binge watching Better Call Saul. The immense mission to get our children to bed was followed by a commitment to Saul Goodman, tormented and imperfect like all of us. While I often write about human connection, faith, family, and shared experience, sometimes you just need a good fictious lawyer. Escapism is the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities. Enter Saul, living in New Mexico, The Land of Enchantment. 

There is an undeniable harshness to what we are experiencing. Connection, faith, family and shared experience have been in a heavyweight fight with isolation, doubt, politics, and separation. And we never thought it would go this many rounds. Never thinking that the next calendar year would still cast this formidable shadow.

So, when I am watching Saul I know I am not making a difference. I'm not doing the world a lick of good watching Goodman. It could be argued I am wasting the time that is allegedly of the essence. I greatly wish to travel to The Land of Enchantment one day but for now I am relegated to recliner and dreaming. It feels safe. The phrase "abundance of caution" has become the nauseating spawn of "new normal". "Oh look honey, New Normal had her baby! She named her Abundance of Caution!" 

But, I think we all need to escape every now and then. We all need exit strategies to endure the unknown. Right now, my wife and I, have invested in Saul. We are on Season 2 and if you spoil anything I will be greatly upset. Let me stay enchanted and may my girls sleep through the night. 

And when they awake, I stand grateful for the sunrise. Am I happy that the Elf is back on the Shelf? No, no I am not. Am I growing impatient and insane? Yes, to impatient. Difficult to determine one's own sanity. 

For now, I'll watch Better Call Saul. I'll believe that there are better days ahead. I am blessed to live where I do with the people that I love. 

Stay strong, Johnstown. Goodnight.