If you are busy-busy and rarely slow down to make time for family I needn’t remind you that a horrid halt is upon us to make time for family, whether we want to or not. Thankfully, my family spends a lot of time together in general, so we are not in major readjustment mode. But, like everyone else our daily routine is quite different.
It goes without saying that the trajectory of pandemic-2020 is shocking and tragic. A little less so, perhaps, if you watched Contagion – 2011. Many of us who saw the movie [sort of] saw it coming, if you will. But I thought it was SARS, then the Swine flu, then MERS, Ebola, Zika…wait, what is going on — there are too many to name. Do you know that the Swineflu infected 61 million Americans?? SIXTY ONE MILLION. And do you recall panic surrounding that pandemic? I don’t.
It’s safe to say everyone will recall this bug. Especially given it has a middle and last name: Corona-Wuhan-China (a/k/a Covid-19). Whatever you call it, this sucker has a big, pandemic bite and is igniting *dempanic™ on top of immeasurable misery.
The good news is God is in control and we (a lot of us) put our faith and trust in Him realizing we have no control over the situation or His plan.
Five new routines for TPA:
Morning prayer that lasts longer than normal
Long walks with good conversation / no cell phones
Home baked desserts
Relaxing outside on the grass
Stick shift instruction for Diana (enjoy what you already have, the Joy is in the JOurneY, not the end — Kobe Bryant even said so).
How are you staying sane and connected?
Thank you for reading!
Love, Shelley
Diana practiced shifting around her old high school parking lot
Beautiful day at Piedmont Park yesterday afternoon.
Quality, quietness in the center of the universe, IMHO
Watching time and clouds pass slowly by
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us – Romans 5:3-5.
*Dempanic™ is a term that arose in a fiction story I’m writing. A character uses it to calm his dying mother by redirecting her “pandemic” fear to the Truth. I inserted the term in this blog for a heads up.
(*dempanic™ March 19, 2020, all rights reserved)