Strange Days

Mother Nature marches on. Greening grass, bird song everywhere, and Mae and Star’s coats are in full shedding mode. I love to work that curry into their hair, loosening all the winter dirt. Somewhere under it all are slick and shiny horses. Some days I have just a couple minutes to run the shedder over them and they take turns gently bumping each other out of the way as if to say, “My turn.” Silly girls.

But at least something feels normal in these not-at-all normal times. It’s like being a part of a surreal and very bad TV movie. We have new phrases like social distancing, and we go to the store and hope there is milk, or meat, or toilet paper. Each day we watch the number of sick and dying alarmingly climb. And we ask questions. Will my family stay healthy? How could we be so unprepared? What will things look like in summer, or fall?

In the middle of all of the bad news, there are bright flashes of hope and compassion in people doing acts of kindness. It is not just one or two people. It is scores of them; a co-worker who runs errands for shut-ins, an English Major at my school who is offering to tutor kids stuck at home, a homebound teacher sewing face masks, restaurants giving away food, fundraisers, and creative and funny social media posts to boost morale. The list is endless. No one wants these strange times, but to see the bright and caring side of humanity reminds me, and I hope others, that there is hope for us.

Stay safe.