We are well into this thing of isolating and social distancing now.
I'm into the routine of working remotely and have incorporated video chatting into some of my meetings. That means my colleagues get to see the inside of my closet, which is where I office.
Wife suggested moving the video chat location somewhere else, that perhaps she's not ready to be that intimate with my coworkers. Point taken.
We are chatting that way (Face Time) with the family too, and it helps to see our grands. The two little guys don't stay still long enough for a long conversation, but just to see them run around and act like the two-year-olds they are warms our hearts.
And our little angel, our granddaughter, almost five months old? Don't get me started.
Yesterday was perhaps the first day I never left the house and I never even went outside. It rained all day so we missed our walks, and Wife brought in the paper for me.
I must do better than that. I went to bed last night with a little heaviness in my heart, and I think that's part of it. Fresh air does the body good and I have to make sure I'm getting plenty.
I've never denied I'm an introvert, but I miss people. I miss nuzzling into the necks of my grandsons and giving my sweet daughter and daughter-in-law hugs. I miss cooing at my granddaughter. I miss my boys hitting me on the shoulder.
I miss seeing my friends and my work colleagues.
And I'll never again take for granted the privilege of those relationships.
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One of our pastors is texting us daily devotionals apropos to the season in which we are living. Every one ends challenging us to find something we're thankful for. That's a good exercise and I have plenty.
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I'm not going to get into the politics of all of this here, but I am skeptical of the country being "back open" by Easter, as President Trump said yesterday.
What an opportunity this was for him to be presidential and to be the kind of leader we need. I'm no psychologist, but I think there is something way down inside of him that simply can't help lashing out at anyone who dares to question him.
Yes, those reporters in the briefing room ask some silly questions. But all he has to do is give a brief answer and move on. He doesn't have to make personal attacks.
But there I go. I said I wasn't going to go political on you.
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It's the start of the day and I need to think of what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful to have Wife to live through this with me, and I'm thankful we keep each other balanced. She'll talk me off the ledge, then I'll talk her off. Blessedly, we have not yet found ourselves on that ledge together.
But if we do, we know the one to talk us both down.
5 comments:
I am very doubtful too of our country being open for business by Easter. Fortunately, our governors seem to be doing their own thing rather than rely on the national government for direction. Unfortunately, I don't think many of our governors are doing enough soon enough and we are currently on a worse track than Italy was at this point. So right now I am hoping that since this is a highly mutating RNA virus, it will burn itself out through mutations sooner than we can get our act together.
I understand there are some areas harder hit than others and I get that those areas have to be treated differently. It’s just a massive undertaking. Our governor has been pretty good, trying to balance the need for people to, as much as possible, keep working vs the need to keep people away from each other so we can slow this thing down.
Excellent post, Bob, and I can totally relate to your observations as an introvert. I feel the same.
I sometimes think those in high places forget that those of us in "flyover" areas are a little behind the pace of the big cities... at least as far as this contagion is concerned. We're just beginning to see more cases.
I miss face-to-face meetings. I had a Session meeting on Monday evening--done by Zoom--and an hour worth of work was done in 2 hours! Anytime you get over 10 or so people, it seems to extend the time it takes. But at least, I hope, it's keeping us well and away from the virus.
Our vicar gives wonderful, wonderful sermons. They give me much to think on (besides the drama of the these days). But a couple parishioners and are were talking about how much we miss interacting with each other. We're trying to set up a virtual coffee hour right now. This will not be over by Easter. I think that it has barely begun. Nothing would make me happier than to be wrong about this. Oh, how I would love to be wrong about this.
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