Be Well
There is silver in the uncertain cloud that has descended upon us.
To be sure, the problems that existed before last Friday when this crazy world really slipped a gear, still exist.
A very depressed industry in which I work and love and respect, is taking a heavy hit. In Alberta, we had finished our layoffs before the pandemic found its way here. My colleagues from other regions in the company are working through theirs.
That is concerning and very sad.
There is uncertainty for all of us. What will happen next? This does not feel like the routine, cyclical downturns that happen in our industry. This one has an edge, a sharpness to it.
The craziness of bare shelves in grocery stores that are *always* stocked -- what is up with that? Who of us are actually so panicked, so afraid, that they are willing to spend a mortgage payment on products when the supply management system is working just fine?
If you are one of those people, I feel sorry for you and your lack of faith. Calm down.
Those who are on front lines. Our daughters -- one a registered nurse, another a customer service rep for a major utility company and who also moonlights as a security guard -- I am in awe of their poise and strength and resilience.
A son who has been applying his career expertise in a specialized area of oil & gas extraction in Texas and New Mexico for the last 9 months because there is *NO* work for him in Canada (thanks, foreign funded NGO protestors), has made the choice to stay in Texas over his long change so that he can actually get back to work for his next hitch in early April. He knew that if he flew home yesterday, he would not be able to get back to work now that the border has closed. It is a brave choice. It is a choice not without sacrifice. Hearts beat together in synchronicity even as they are apart.
Life is all about choices.
Life is also about grace and love and choosing to extend one, and preferably both, to one other.
The fear of an illness that almost none of us in North America have experienced but, filled with worst case scenario social media stories, we already dread. Context does not yet exist for most of us. Not yet.
My first responder husband has been to a few calls in the past week that have been prompted by fear. It's okay. Please call if you need a first responder. First responders will help you through this.
Schools, recreation, church, and all manner of social places of establishment are closed. In a time of great socialization, with our youngest of-age generation inextricably linked to social activities and places, what will happen? Can our young adults handle the social isolation?
Yes. They can and they will.
Despite all this, there is peace.
We are blessed.
For a large portion of us, we really do have enough. Not stocked up, definitely not stocked to the rafters, but we have enough.
Trust the systems and the people working so hard within those systems. They are working hard to not let you and I down. And while we wait, let us give thanks for the abundance that we have always enjoyed and which will return.
Most of us, even those of us with health "hiccups" are very blessed. We live in a society, even with the aspects that don't work very well, where we can enjoy a quality of living far surpassing others. How blessed are we?!
For the last few days, Chris and I have been battling what we think is a cold bug. We have been very largely self isolated, arguably easier to do on a farm twenty minutes from the nearest village. The last place on a dead end road, that's us. Lol. It has been several days of sniffles, doing chores and work-from-home with low energy levels.
It is quiet. But, even with the aches and fatigue, we can both see that a different rhythm is now in play.
It's a strange rhythm to two workaholics. A softer cadence that whispers its tune. It is soothing. We will not focus on the negative, the fear, the worst case scenarios.
After all, the scenario we most fear is probably not the worst case that will happen.
And because we give fear no toehold, oxygen has returned to the room. Love prevails and grows.
A simple meal -- actually, quite a few of them!
A pot of tea.
I dug out my grandma's pretty, delicate antique china teacups and have been using them this past week. They were not gifted to me to sit unused in a china cabinet. They are meant to be used and loved and cherished. The teacups are tiny and the tea cools quickly -- too quickly -- in them. But perhaps that is the point. So, enjoy each moment while you can and use the good china.
An unexpected batch of homemade cookies when one of us finally found some energy to surprise the other.
Unmolding and cutting a citrusy fragrant soap slab into rectangles of cleansing perfection.
A new birth on the farm in the form of 70 pounds of cavorting babyhood, all fluffy and fuzzy in the crisp late winter air, to remind us that God has this.
Please remember that.
Count your blessings.
Be well.
Shelley
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. ~ Joshua 1:9
