Growing up my father told me many times about his mother’s aunt, Aunt Alice. She lived down in the country in a very little place on some family member’s property. Aunt Alice was a committed recluse – I suspect she suffered from some sort of anxiety condition that left her unable, or unwilling, to venture out.
I asked my grandmother about Aunt Alice. She wouldn’t tell me much, but what I was able to piece together was that this poor, sweet woman had suffered a lot of sadness and tragedy in her life.
Each Sunday, my grandparents would pack up my father and his sisters and take a basket of food to Aunt A. They’d leave it on the porch and then go visit other relatives in the area. But all of the kids were cautioned not to make noise or do anything to upset their great aunt.
I write mysteries. Aunt Alice has always been a mystery in my family tree. I’ve done genealogical research, but I haven’t uncovered anything more than I knew before. She died when my dad was a little boy.
When it was announced earlier in the year that those of us at high risk for Coved-19 should shelter in place, I was very concerned. I’m a fairly social person and I was worried that I may not be able to do this. But I have to say somewhere along the way, I have embraced my inner Aunt Alice. I have hunkered down. And I have enjoyed it on some level. Sure, I still miss all of my family and my friends. But I do not miss the endless appointments I had or the many errands I was forced into doing on a daily basis before the pandemic hit.
I have used my time wisely. I’ve rereleased a book that I’d written several years ago. And I’ve just released the second book in that series – Your Time is Up. That book had just been waiting to be revised and published. I’m hard at work on edits for the third book in the series. I’ve been VERY busy. And it’s felt great.
And as I’ve been safely ensconced in my little sheltered world, I’ve often thought how different my self-imposed reclusive life has been from Aunt Alice’s. What would she have done with a laptop and her imagination? How would her life have been different? Would it have made a difference? I really hope so.
But I have no idea and I wish I knew the answer. One thing I do know is that Aunt Alice will turn into a character in one of my books. Loosely based, of course. I’m a writer. It’s what I do.
I hope you’re using your Pandemic time wisely and are getting a lot accomplished.
Kat
Kat Jorgensen 