
When was your last “normal” day?
What were you doing when the world turned upside down?
For me that was Friday, March 13th 2020.
Like toppling dominoes, one cancellation piled atop another. Our public school went remote. Our synagogue cancelled Sabbath services. Our town library closed. My gym and dance studio closed. An up-coming business trip was cancelled. My private students cancelled their lessons. My daughter came home from college (thinking it would be a few weeks).
Oh, and my son’s engagement party was planned for that weekend.
I’m glad I didn’t know how long the doom would last. How many lives would be lost.
There is hope now. But our world is different. You are different. Hopefully, you’ve gained some things amidst all the losses.
***
I learned the primacy of relationships over work and ambition.
I learned that absence makes the heart grow fonder and stronger.
I learned how much I miss my grandchildren.
I learned that children are better mask-adapters than adults.
I learned it’s okay to sit in the car and cry.
I learned to surrender to uncertainty.
I learned to expect plans to change.
I learned how to teach lessons over Zoom.
I learned we can build bridges with words.
I learned words I wish I didn’t have to utter: lockdown, social-distancing, aerosols, quarantine, asymptomatic, fomites, super-spreader…
I learned that family members can hold vastly different beliefs from me.
I learned that when things are looking really bad, look toward the heavens.
I learned just how wise my young adult children have become.
I learned that writing can sustain me.
I learned what I can and cannot live without.
I learned just how lucky I am. ~

Hi Evelyn,
Thank you for writing this. Once again you said it so well. This past year gave me more time and focus on writing and healing. I discovered a deeper connection with Nature, trees, beauty, simple things. I grew in my gratitude & appreciation for things & people I used to take for granted, like grocery store clerks who delivered groceries to my car & showed up for work everyday, risking their own health. I have a deeper appreciation for the Source of our food and all the people who make it possible for me to have food on my plate every day. And my own neighbor was a new nurse on the front lines with Covid patients. It was heartbreaking to watch what she endured in order to help people with this disease. Her experience put my little life in perspective.
So much has happened this past year.
It will take a while to process it all and see what more I have learned.
Warm wishes to you & your family.
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Thanks so much, Linda. I, too, developed a greater appreciation for the small joys of life and for those invisible workers who may that life possible. I think we will all be processing this momentous year for a while.
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Thanks for sharing, Evelyn. I’ve also learned that there are many people among us, including some of my neighbors, who would rather put their individual rights above the safety of others.
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It’s a harsh lesson, I’ve witnessed this from afar, Rosaliene. I don’t even consider it an “individual” right.
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Very good lessons there, Evelyn. I think I’m still learning about patience. That some things take time and patience is good presence of mind to not fall apart when things are not going your way.
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Your Byline says it all. I’m now thinking about patience, too, wondering if that muscle has been strengthed this year. If there is one word that characterizes the year for me it is: surrender.
Thank you for joining the conversation.
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Reblogged this on Get Help Parenting.
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An excellent list. Well done.
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Thank you. What would you add? By the way, I liked the Bostonian birthday post. Lost of famous Americans born here.
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