My mother told me repeatedly when I was small, and again when I was a teenager, and yet again when I was grown that I was much too restless for my own good. “You don’t have to be going somewhere, doing something, all the time!” She’d say, or something similar.
To Mom, my need to be doing something or going somewhere, was probably my biggest character flaw—along with my disinterest in keeping a clean room and having a smart mouth. The triumvirate of failings. I suspect that right now she’s looking down on me and laughing her ass off. I don’t do well when told I can’t just get up and go where I please.
Now, I don’t think I’m particularly hyperactive. I can sit for hours reading a good book, or watching a movie, but if I’m unable to leave if I want to, I start feeling trapped and go a bit bonkers. I’m sure my two children are thankful that they are grown and don’t have to share space with me during this time.
My heart hurts, though, when I read of the people in Italy who are unable to attend the funerals of loved ones. People are being buried with only a member of the clergy and perhaps a funeral home employee in attendance, as their surviving family members are prohibited from leaving their own homes. If those grieving families can stay put, then I can.
Thank goodness for FaceTime, books and movies, social media, my renewed interest in finishing my novel, and for plenty of sunshine here in Florida. Maybe I’ll emerge from this experience with a new outlook on being still. Mom just fell off her cloud laughing. Oh, and when she stopped laughing she’d tell me to go clean my room and “don’t roll your eyes at me, young lady.”
How are you staying sane?
Peace, people.
Praying for Eyebrowz 
My daughter posted this on FB. It came from Harmony Hill Retreat, a lovely healing environment not far from where we live. She attended a nurse’s retreat there once and came upon this current post, which I thought was beautiful.
“But, They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet The sky is no longer thick with fumes But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number through the neighborhood So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way All over the world people are waking up to a new reality To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic The birds are singing again The sky is clearing, Spring is coming, And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM 3/13/220
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This is beautiful.
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I am sure we will all come out the other end of this but oh dear. That is a wonderful poem there. And I do love your post. The thing is to go back to what I was saying earlier… I am actually a recluse. people often think WHAT? But I am .My Mr is the one who has to get out every day. prob away fae me!!!
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You? A recluse? I’m shocked!
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Maybe the world will learn the lessons of the last twelve months and make a few changes.
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Maybe. I’m watching our doofus president stand on a stage and insult the reporter who just asked him a valid question.
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What an …..,
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Absolutely. It’s all about his ego.
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“Henry VIII and Trump; History Repeating?” on our Channel 5 on 10th March compared the two tyrants
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Well, that should be interesting!
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It really was.
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I think the teens go thru this. For years we tell them “Unplug! Get out!” And now? Lol 😛
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Yep. Plug in and stay in.
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I’m normally such a hermit anyway that this isn’t a massive change (the staying in part anyway). The biggest change will come after more than a week of Hubby working from home and the kids doing their classes online instead of going to school. Right now, it feels much like a normal holiday break when the kids are home from school and I don’t have to get BG to the studio 4 times a week. I think it will all start to really feel different for me in the next week.
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And if this goes on for weeks, I can’t imagine the struggle of keeping kids and spouses calm and happy for that long.
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Our district is doing online, so my kids will be occupied for, what should be, roughly normal school time. I honestly expect it to be more of an issue with Hubby as he likes to take little breaks several times a day to get up and walk and feels the need to chat with me while he does it. I’m usually trying to read and get grumpy with interruptions.
I feel for those parents that have to arrange to educate their kids themselves.
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It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
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Thanks for sharing this.
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Oh I actually hardly go out . Thre you go. Of course when i do go out I partay.
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I keep seeing articles and commentary related to Spain and Italy with “this is coming to the U.S. soon.” It could be, but honestly no one really knows. We need to be vigilant but not necessary alarmist. Then again, the video of the kids on the Clearwater beach was a bit disturbing. We did go to our favorite beach here this morning, and it was wonderfully empty for the most part. I wasn’t just six feet from my fellow man but probably 75 to 100! 🙂 – Marty
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The alarmists are, well, alarming. I might be fooling myself, but I don’t think we are going to have the same scenario Italy is seeing.
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Hoping and keeping fingers crossed that you don’t: as I understand it, your health structures aren’t free, are they? Even if they’re insufficient in some places, we mostly have free hospitals…
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We’re hoping too. My husband and I are well insured, but so many here aren’t. That makes it even scarier.
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Staying sane by reading blogs: this one’s great. Thanks!
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Thanks!
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