At the end of the day, you hope most is made right. Perhaps, the good outweighs the bad. Taking rest knowing you have done everything you were given to do. You also hope you did all that was meant for you. One can rest, weary from work, but also glad for work. In the end, what is done is done.

How much loneliness have you felt this past year?
How much have you found yourself facing what you wanted to avoid?
How have you cared for yourself?

We often talk about the pandemic in negative terms. It is understandable. The loss of employment, relationships, health, and for many life is hard and to be sure grief upon grief. Because of the pandemic, My voice has become more silent as I have worked from home.

“I am moving in feet instead of inches,” she said with relief.

This statement felt profound to me. How do we move through our lives? Do we move in inches or feet? Do we try to savor or ignore details? Do we feel accomplished or overwhelmed with the big picture? Maybe you have a preference for one over the other but how often do we see the need that moving in feet requires inches or a focus on inches results in feet?

Did you ever think the pandemic would last more than a year? I didn’t.
One year, four weeks, and four days (as of March 16, 2021) since we have been together physically as a full body. What things do you remember about the early days of the pandemic? What changes have happened in your life since that day? Think about all the life you have lived in the days that have made up the one year, four weeks, and four days. For me, it feels like I lived 2-3 years in that one year because so many things have shifted and changed!

As we live on the cusp of living and breathing with feelings of life and togetherness, I think about what it means to return to community. Some of us hunkered down and worked our way through this pandemic and others of us tried to maintain community through computers. We have all had mixtures of these choices and I have questions.