An evening not so long ago, my family sat in our garage with the door open to enjoy some fresh , cool, rainy air and good conversation. We were the only ones about. Our neighbors were tucked away in their houses as we’re all on shelter-in-place orders here in the San Francisco Bay Area. As we sat there, we asked what was one thing we found positive in this whole crazy experience?
Right now, like billions across this world, we’re snug in our houses, a captive audience if you will, to the world around us and what’s going on. Some of this is the same: I work from home regularly and am comfortable there. Some of this is not: my son’s school is shut down and as he says, “they took all the fun and left all the work.” It was hard for him to come up with positives at first.
I understand that. We’re all facing something we’ve never faced in our lifetimes. There’s uncertainty. Fear. Mixed messages. Some people trying to adhere to the plans that our scientists and officials have said will help slow the roll of this persistent virus. Others ignoring it. The sheer volume of noise coming at us about it is overwhelming on its own. (But there’s also the memes… laughter is good, and the memes are bar none right now.)
But tonight, we took out our camping chairs and settled in the garage while it rained outside, our dog hopeful and nearby with the ever present tennis ball. We breathed in some cool air and had a conversation about finding the positives. What can we be grateful for? When so many have so little, when we are able to huddle together in our home, with a roof over our head, plenty of food and water and recorded DVR shows, what can we learn from this? What can we take for good in this moment?
Many of our answers, as they began to roll easier and easier, were about each other. Family. Time. Doing things that we didn’t have time for before, like taking slow walks around the block. Less time in the car for my husband, who still has to go to work. Or for me, no time in the car at all. We’re grateful to be able to huddle together, with a roof over our head, plenty of food and water. We are blessed, and we know it. For having the privilege of sitting together at the end of every day, which is 5 or 6 pm instead of catching up at 8 or 9 at night because our life has been built around different schedules. Talking. Putting the screens down.
Spending five minutes just watching my dog watch the air. (Really, what does he see?)
We have so much to be grateful for
We realized that we were grateful for the warriors in this fight– our scientists, nurses, doctors, grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, food workers, and so many more who are on the front lines and serving us. And even more so, we were grateful to see that these people, so often overlooked– are not only our heroes but that other people are grateful to them as well. And those people are fighting to protect those in our society who need us — our grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, loved ones, coworkers, friends. It’s guaranteed we all know someone who is in the high risk group. (And if you’re reading this, now you do, too. Hi. Type 1 diabetic with asthma here, with a son the same.) I’m grateful there are people taking this seriously.
When it came down to it, we realized that this has forced us to slow our pace. To slow our roll. And you know what? We kind of like it.
I know life will resume at some point. We want to get back to a new sense of normal, without the threat and fear over our heads of what’s to come. I know it will resume. We’ll get busy again. We’ll spend hours commuting. We’ll run in different directions, with a wave and a kiss. We’ll continue on. But I am finding that I hope we don’t forget.
I hope we don’t forget how it felt to be together at the same time, every night, just talking. I hope we won’t forget how when we were on social media, it was often sharing real moments (and funny memes, because we have to laugh) about how we’re all feeling and looking for true connections with friends. I hope we won’t forget what it feels like to slow down. To take our time. To check in on each other. To think about those around us. To appreciate the unappreciated, because without them right now, many of us wouldn’t be able to binge watch shows on Netflix, order out and be comfortable.
So let’s not forget.