Memories and Coping with Missing Events

 

Silas and Lulu outgrew me...

Lately I've started fantasizing about what I'm going to do in the future, I'm sure you're joining me in this endeavor.  I envision many lush trips and large, large festive gatherings with my extended family. [That seems shocking right now with the dread Covid 19 still running rampant.]  A lovely truth: sometimes anticipation is actually more enjoyable than the actual event. This is sometimes the truth with trips to foreign countries but never the truth when we're so fortunate to visit with our sons and our grandchildren. The visits were always so soul satisfying and dear to us. 

Now during this pandemic I eagerly await the time in the future when we can again visit with these darling people. How we miss them! Face Time is great but in some ways it's only a sad reminder that we can't embrace each other. This leaves me with great longing and yet there is also the gratitude to be part of their lives.

surprise: a pair of eagles hanging out

In the realistic here and now, what always brings peace and joy to me and Mr. G are the trips and hikes to the ocean or a lake on a sunny day. It's nourishing for us and oh so rejuvenating and stimulating. Being outside gives us much more than nature gets. Although we do occasionally pick up the trash carelessly discarded by others to aid in caring for our planet. We indulge ourselves, breathing in the sweet air, drinking in the atmosphere and letting our minds wander in tempo with our footsteps. A side benefit to  these slow, methodical walks, it always helps me sleep at night. I gather in the beauty like an armful of flowers to revisit at my leisure.

Lauren and James

Let me be the first to admit that I shutter at the thought we may miss another carefree summer. Those two words: carefree summer, makes me shiver with delight. How about you? Shivering...? Now with eyes opened by the pandemic to the all freedoms we took for granted, don't we all cherish and feel enormous gratitude for the times we were able to gather with our loved ones, especially the grands. 

What we never, ever  imagined was the wallop of this pandemic in early 2020. What we also couldn't fathom was the failure of our leaders. They could have mitigated the incredible blow of the Covid 19 virus.  Sadly, scientists and science were unceremoniously thrown out the window along with common sense. A stupid move to say the least. More than 300,000 lives have been currently lost to the virus. Some lives lost for the simple reason people believed their leaders who said that the virus was harmless, just like the flu.  Then for others, who chose to go masks less which contributed to unnecessarily spreading the virus. Remarkably, there were even a super spreader events at the White House with the predictable results of more positive cases. Now there's all this damage, grief and heartache to families, victims of this dreadful disease. Because the virus has not been successfully controlled, there have been numerous forced shut downs and many small businesses all across the country have gone under. 

Happily, to the tune of 80 million of us, we just elected someone who supports competence and science. Biden has filled his cabinet with people who are competent and experienced, who respect democracy, who are people of all colors and ethnicity and are caring for the recovery of our country. Hope!  Huge sigh of relief.

After a long winter, there is always Spring

Let's all come together to celebrate the changing of the guard, the end of the pandemic, the "Here Comes the Sun" rejoicing that comes from that hopeful speedy recovery. We deserve that joy for our country.

susansmagicfeather 2020 copyright Susan R. Grout all rights reserved