Stories are medicine

Even those who dislike William Shakespeare are tuning in to chill as Sir Patrick Stewart reads sonnets. Others sigh with relief to the gruff tones of Samuel L. Jackson reading "Stay the F*ck at Home." Every night I go live on Facebook to read life lesson fables from my books because I know that the benefit is a massive attitude adjustment, as much for me as for my audience.

Being read to seems to trigger a sense of protected, bedtime, calm in many of us. It's an instant attitude adjustment.

I believe that Captain Jack Sparrow hit this one on the head in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies when he said, “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.”

I believe that’s fitting for the current lock-down limbo we’re all riding like a stormy sea.

Frankly, I believe Jack Sparrow was directly addressing me. As my 89-year-old mother will still not let me forget, my very first sentence was, “I don’t like your attitude!”

It was a sentence I learned because it was said to me repeatedly from the moment I could speak/bemoan.

Now, as the mom of four sons and a daughter, I know that as the parent's attitude goes, so goes the family vibe.

In this case, our vibes on social media are influencing all of our friends who are in isolation and living on a steady diet of doom, gloom, stress and really bad news.

Also, after all the cookie baking, car detailing, room cleaning, TikTok dancing and board games were done - twice - things began to go stale fast at my house.

I was starting to feel self-loathing because, while other people are sewing masks (I'm a disaster at sewing) or donating things (I'm a single mom and poor), I wasn't being a "Helper."

Telling stories is what I know how to do in times of crisis to help make things better.

The fables were written for my four sons when they were little as a means of helping them cope with everyday upsets by converting people to plants, animals and elements. The books are "Tell me a story" and "Tell me another story" both from Paraclete Press. They're out of print now but you can still find copies via Amazon.

I need to be a helper right now because I'm seriously bad at accepting help and I know I may need some shortly.

An hour ago I sat on a paper-covered exam table in an urgent care center looking at a doctor who was geared like she was about to step out into an alien environment as she said in somber tones, “I’m so sorry, but your flu test was negative.”

Damn. I was seriously rooting for the flu.

Unfortunately, being age 55, being a diabetic with a painful dry cough (I can hear a wheeze when I inhale), severe body aches, low-grade fever, stomach pain and sudden shortness of breath (from doing nothing more strenuous than binge-watching Star Trek The Next Generation) just bought me a ticket to ride the COVID-19 test train.

It really does feel like they're touching your brain when they run that thing up your nose for the swab. Pro Tip: Breathe and try to think of Samuel L. Jackson telling someone off for not social distancing.

It will take anywhere from 4-10 days to get the COVID-19 test result here in Norfolk, VA. My friend in Israel tells me that it takes 15-minutes to get the result there.

The quarantine order also extends to my three sons who currently live at home (two in college nearby and one in high school), my cats and dog. If the cats and dog seem excessive consider that a tiger at the Bronx Zoo tested positive for COVID-19.

When I survive this, and I will, I’m making shirts for our family that read, “COVID-19 Survivor. Tougher than a tiger.”

For the past few days I've been going to crazy lengths to try and hide the fact that I'm sick because I figured that would defeat the purpose of the chill story time. I was downing cough syrup, crunching lozenges and even trying to "cough it all out" before every live-stream, but now that’s just getting to be too difficult.

Rather than stop the readings, I’m letting the tiger out of the bag during tonight’s broadcast. Then I will just Keep Calm and Read On.

I’ll dedicate the reading to the stressed-out hotline operators, our Health Department and medical workers. They were all super caring and trying their best to help today with the very limited information and resources they have to work with.

Meanwhile, the mice, clouds, leaves, wind, sun, stars and universal voices of reason will be with me as I read at 7:30 p.m. EDT (USA) nightly on Facebook. All of the Lock-down Livestream story sessions are also available on a playlist on my YouTube Channel.

Our bodies may be in lock-down, quarantine or a hospital bed, but every night we can free our spirits because stories are medicine and there are lots of authors, actors and teachers out here ready to treat you by telling you a story.