THE BIG PAUSE

I’m enjoying the big pause.  There is nothing going on, no places to be, not even church responsibilities to attend to. This is unprecedented in my lifetime. I have dreamed of creating this scenario-indeed, there was a year or two when I felt family life spiraling out of control, and I made proclamations about “no lessons this year”. But there were still activities raging on all around us. We were clearly missing out, falling behind, or as my kids termed it, “turning into weird homeschoolers”. This is different in every wonderful way. We have returned home to be together to get back into the rhythm of each other, to bump up against boredom, and open our eyes each morning to a long stretch of nothingness. I am not frantically preparing dinner in between the ballet drop off and the evening meeting. (Even writing that produces low-level anxiety.) I feel stripped of pomp and circumstance, ceremony and non-sense. Celebrations are simple and small. I’m being thoughtful about when I leave my home-why and where?

So while this silent, microscopic bandit is making its way across the globe, I welcome the rest. I feel relaxed. I feel at peace. The virus is doing something I didn’t have the guts to do on my own…turning me into a social minimalist (of sorts). I have the energy and the presence of mind to focus on my family and my neighborhood community. Grounding myself has not felt easier.

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