My Field of Poo Flowers:: Finding Happy in 2020

My Field of Poo Flowers:: Finding Happy in 2020

Okay, 2020 is officially – a giant pile of poo. Yeah, I said what I said.

We’ve only made it to the halfway point and we have a pandemic, social unrest unseen since the civil rights era, economic recession, murder hornets, Sahara dust, a Tiger King takeover, massive fires, neighborhoods sliding into the ocean, a toilet paper shortage the United States could have never anticipated… and just when we thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous – Kanye West announces he is running for president. Generally, we consider a pile of poo a bad thing. But I’m an optimist. And the optimist in me can find the positive – even in a pile of poo. It’s gross. It stinks. It’s messy. BUT… it also encourages growth of things we like. Like flowers. So today, I intend to focus on those flowers. Hence forth, I shall refer to them as… poo flowers.

My Field of Poo Flowers in No Particular Order

Remote Work Wardrobe(ing). My work clothes and my sleep clothes are now one and the same. My dry cleaning bill is nonexistent. I have ironed twice since March. Comfortable has become the norm. And my girls are breathing and bouncing {real talk:: happily hanging at two different lengths} for the better part of all day every day.

Netflixships. Netflix brought about some unexpectedly juicy television shows and was the impetus for the development of an even juicier friend group. Shout out to the greatest treasure in recent trash television – Love is Blind and the chicks that made it even better. We bonded as we reveled in the foolishness of random strangers becoming engaged and declaring their love for one another after 48 hours sight unseen. We had no idea that this madness would result in a genuine round the clock talk about any and everything with absolutely no judgement and zero shame kind of sistership. We are totally getting matching tats when this crap is over.

Acknowledgement of Juneteenth. Yes. Yes. And YES. For me – the Fourth of July has always been accompanied by internal conflict. Because on that day, my ancestors were not free. It was Juneteenth, formally June 19, 1865 when my ancestors received their long deserved walking papers. So Juneteenth is my Independence Day. Finally, some comeuppance… companies including but not limited to Target, Nike, Citigroup and Twitter  added it to their list of paid holidays. Families across the spectrum made it their business to celebrate the day with us.  And we were once again reminded that not all important history lessons are taught in school.

Tik Tok – Not Just for Kids Anymore. People were bored in the house and they were in the house bored. So there was music and dancing and dancing and music. And people were happy and laughing and smiling and there was family and friends and they shared their videos with the world. Trapped inside the Tik Tok loop, there was genuine joy. And even if only for a few seconds, we were able to experience a teensy weensy relief from the pandemic. 

All the Puppies. Because #pandemicpuppy is a real thing. In my Oprah voice… You get a puppy! You get a puppy! You get a puppy! My timeline has been filled with puppies since the start of the COVID-19 season. Every time I turned around – someone was getting a puppy. And puppies on a timeline are infinitely better than dinner plates on a timeline – so there’s that. 

Back to School Shopping. High schooler in tow. The at home educational experience is increasingly likely. I am about to layaway five sets of pajamas for regular school days and 2-3 shirts for Zoom days to get her through the week. Bottoms no longer necessary. My bank account just came up.

Time for Prep. No, not meal prep. 2020 has us on ready waiting for the next piece of poo. On the positive side, we are still here working through the current madness. Given this quick and heavy crash course in survival, we all should be ready to handle Demogorgons, a release of radioactive butterflies, summer blizzards, Decepticons… whatever. No biggie. Bring it on 2020. Psych. I’m kidding. Get somewhere and sit down 2020 Part 2. Please. You’ve already done enough. Thanks.

The Outing of Racist Behaviors and Allyship. As a black woman who has personally experienced the unpleasantries of someone else’s biases and ignorance a time or twelve – I say finally. The use of cell phones to record and share these unfortunate events has been invaluable. Finally the world is witnessing these incidents and it is becoming clear what people of color have been shouting since, well… pretty much forever. See:: #CentralParkKaren, #PermitPatty, #CouponCarl, #BBQBecky or #CornerstoreCaroline among others for context. {Bonus points for nicknames with alliteration – my favorite of the literary devices.} For the first time in a long time, I felt the relief of allowing others to be the voice. Thanks friends. I see you and I love you.

New Appreciation for Previously Mundane Grocery Products. We always realize we had a good thing… when it’s gone. Toilet paper finally got the recognition it has long deserved. I would personally like to thank Cottonelle for your gentle support and unwavering strength. I don’t know where I’d be without you.

Family Time. Uninterrupted hang time with the fam bam! Twenty-four hours a day. Seven days a week. For the last four months. Ok… this could go either way.

Power in the Poo

In summation, I would like to say… I realize this is not what we were expecting when the clock struck midnight and we rolled into a new year. Who could have known? But alas, we must play the hand we’ve been dealt. There is power in finding the silver lining… the poo flowers and picking a few of them for the road. 

Final Note:: Poo Flowers Disclosure

Until three days ago, I thought I’d coined the term – poo flowers. I was quite surprised when a dear friend of mine innocently searched the term and sent me a screenshot. If you have never heard the term used before… I beg of you… save yourself… DO NOT GOOGLE IT. 


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Joi Bailey Green
Joi was born and raised in San Antonio. After a brief pit stop at the University of Texas in Austin, Joi moved to Houston in 1994 and began checking boxes off her never ending to do list. During this time and in no particular order, Joi taught a little bit of everything between first and eighth grades, got married and then divorced, completed grad school, birthed a few babies – Ferris {November 1997}, Warren {December 1999} and Laylah {March 2006}, moved an old lady into her home – Granny {January 1925} started working in Human Resources, served an excessive amount of time (on boards, in booster clubs, team momming) as a crazy sports momma, and learned a lot of life lessons. Joi is known for her unabashed honesty, always present sense of humor and her #TeamTooMuch style of doing everything. On most days, you can find her caught up in her love/hate relationship with politics, feeding her Facebook addiction, or counting the number of days until her last child graduates from high school.

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