May 21, 2021 4 min read

The mask with the reindeer fabric was under the passenger seat. A couple of the flimsy paper masks were jammed between the seats. And my favorite – the mask with the first lines of the U.S. Constitution on it – finally turned up. It was under the driver’s seat.

Few things are as satisfying as a car clean-out. Driving to the car wash to use the vacuum is among my favorite errands; like cleaning out the fridge or upending the toaster to get rid of the crumbs, it’s an easy effort that yields quick gratification.

The cleaning I did last weekend was probably my favorite ever, because it celebrated the beginning of the end of COVID and allowed me to jettison some of the things the pandemic brought into my car, and my life. Although my Subaru has always been cluttered (water bottles, paper and pens, protein bars, hairbrush, chapstick, reading glasses, books), the past year has added another layer of stuff.

There are the two spray bottles of hand sanitizer, the first thing I reached for when getting back into the car. Next to those on the passenger seat was the tube of hand cream, necessary because the spray made my skin dry. In the cup holder between the seats were a thermometer and a pulse oximeter, part of the COVID-fighting kit my mom gave me. I haven’t used either of them to check my temperature or my oxygen levels in a while – not since last summer when we all were a little anxious.

This time last year I had a sore throat for about a week. It was worrisome, and I would reassure myself by pulling the little air freshener cube out of the vent and sniffing it. If I could smell the apple scent, I didn’t have COVID. Not scientific, but it calmed my nerves.

In a box in the back seat was a little microphone I used to record narration tracks for video productions. With the TV station closed, I was using my car as an audio recording booth. I would clip the microphone to the sun visor and speak into it, then send the tracks to the editor from my phone. My colleagues and I were innovative.

Back at the car wash, to get the stronger vacuum power, I had to pump extra quarters into the machine. But I got my money’s worth: that hose sucked up everything in its path, including a rogue earring and a few pennies. Early in the pandemic, I stopped using the public vacuums because, well, germs. It was reassuring to learn recently that COVID was more airborne than surface spread. But back then, I carried groceries home and left them outside the door to air out before bringing them into the house.

Hanging from the rear view mirror is my building entry badge, the thing I wore every day to get into and around inside the TV station. I have begun to wear it again, as we’re easing back into the workplace.

I still wear a mask when I go in to work, but I’m fully vaccinated, which allows me to go maskless in some places. This week I went into a grocery store, barefaced; I felt naked and vulnerable.

For now I’ll keep a mask or two in the car. The one with the Constitution will always be my favorite.

Someday I won’t need it and will tuck it away in a drawer, a keepsake of this strange year. But for now it stays in the car. I’m not ready yet.