The Great Pause

A friend (eventually several friends) shared this article today that I absolutely loved. Read the whole article. Read it twice. There are so many gems here. Kernels of truth I have been seeking for much of the week. And now I have the words to write on sticky notes, to paste upon my wall of wisdom, to write in the margins of my paper journal, to inspire my own writing and moving forward.

"...The Great Pause...the curtain is wide open...what would happen if the world simply stopped. Here it is. We’re in it." 

Julio Vincent Gambuto

The hubby and I walked the nearby river trail this morning. The birds were singing. The dogs were beyond-silly-excited to be out in the wilderness with so many smells to smell. It was a good start to a brilliant day. The sun is shining. The breeze is blowing. I love coming home to a spring-chilled house and feeling no need to grab a sweater. The blood is already warm and coursing through my veins. My brain feels alive from the activity. I had a leftover pork chop and mashed potatoes and cauliflower for breakfast. It was a perfect morning, pandemic not included.

This, the third (more or less) week of our confinement, I feel as if I've made some progress. A new routine, of sorts, seems to be guiding my days. And I must admit that we are fortunate in so many ways. I know that so-called isolation must be easier in a house full of people. I know that our second isolation pod (the office) is a luxury not everyone has.

I've been working on the novel daily (yes, daily! It has been a while). I've been working on Meadowlark publishing projects most afternoons. Bookkeeping for the law office remains a feature of my days, though the pace has certainly changed. No in-court time for hubby. No in-office appointments. The phone still rings, but everything is different.

That said, I've also continued to experience moments of what I can only describe as intense grief, though they aren't as frequent as they were in previous weeks. As a family we are beginning to have more conversations about this. Everyone is working through their own disappointments. Today was supposed to have been the second day of our trip to Oregon. I subscribed to GeoGuessr last evening and worked a few "road trip" blues out of my system.

I wish my sister lived next door. I heard from my sister-in-law last evening and found myself longing for the long, quiet days of my youth on the farm. Grandma Skaggs and Aunt Gerry living right next door. Cousins just down the road. But mostly, I was struck by how easy it was to have a phone conversation with someone I love. It's not something I do much of these days. We have so many modes of communication, but that voice on the other end of the line--that was a good, good voice to hear.

"...take a deep breath, ignore the deafening noise, and think deeply about what you want to put back into your life. This is our chance to define a new version of normal, a rare and truly sacred (yes, sacred) opportunity to get rid of the bullshit and to only bring back what works for us, what makes our lives richer, what makes our kids happier, what makes us truly proud." 

Julio Vincent Gambuto

So many gems. What if this is us--whole communities of people--defining our new normal. A better normal. A sweeter, softer, slower normal. There are some hugs I'm looking forward to giving and getting. But I'm also collecting some gems from this. Some of them are going to stick.

Dogs took us for a walk on the Cottonwood River Trail.

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NYTimes has us at 1,271 with 51 deaths, 4/11/2020. Lyon County has 26 cases.