This ongoing pandemic is affecting everyone, including our old friend Harvey, who used to work at El Paso International Airport in the Baggage Claim area.

"Not enough people traveling these days, so I have been furloughed," he says.

"Probably just as well, considering where I worked last. Most of that stuff should probably be left there in the Emotional Baggage area, anyway."

"Oh, yes," I agreed, recalling the last time I saw him there.
"That pile just kept getting bigger," I commented.
"There seemed to be a lot of guilt running through it, and shame, quite frankly."
Harvey nodded. "Yes , it was unnerving to see all those snakes of Fear and Stress and whatnot slithering in and out."
"And anger! Sometimes I could just feel the heat coursing through it all, as well."

"Yes," I agreed. "I remember noticing all that rage. And that club! Wow!"
"I suppose there are some jobs like my old one that people don't want to go back to, even after the pandemic is past. Best to leave all those unrealized dreams behind, and not dwell on all that stuff."
"Unfortunately, some things, like debts, we can't leave behind. Best to retrieve those and do something about them," he observed.
I confessed, "Something difficult for me to leave behind is that Inner Critic that keeps slithering through my life, unbidden and unwanted. We are our own worst enemy sometimes, when we won't allow ourselves to make mistakes like everybody else."

Yes, Harvey and I agreed that was one job - and one place - neither of us wants to revisit. Best to leave it all behind!
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
NOTES:
This little project was inspired by a cartoon I saw in the Sunday paper recently. Instantly I recalled some miscellaneous pieces of luggage and storage items, rather timeworn, that dated back to my earliest days as a miniaturist. So, rather than have to make anything new, other than the labels and the Jealousy eyeballs, those pieces formed the underpinnings.
This small project was gratifying to do, on several levels; quick and simple, and served to exorcise some of my own negative feelings that too often come unbidden in these days of pandemic and upheaval in our country. Yes, Harvey is right - best to leave this Emotional Baggage behind.
NEXT:>>
