Sarah's CircleFriends are blessings that sustain our journeys. |
Unemployment, food insecurity, isolation, hospitalization and death without being surrounded by your loved ones, failure of the federal government to take necessary action to protect the people of this country, and increased stress. Those are some of the things that come to mind when I think of Covid. I am one of the fortunate ones, as none of my loved ones have been seriously affected by this long battle. For many, it has been another story, and my heart goes out to them. Watching the news often brings tears to my eyes. I’m hoping and praying that the vaccinations are more readily available, but realize that it is an overwhelming process at the moment for the local communities. Healing, both physically and emotionally, will be a long process, but all we can do is put one foot in front of the other every day, and eventually I hope the future will be brighter. --Jeanette
0 Comments
It seems to me that Covid-19 has been like a spotlight or catalyst, bringing out both the best and the worst in people. We have seen some incredibly sacrificial behavior by medical staff and caretakers. Others work day in and day out volunteering to hand out food to families who are in need, caused or worsened by this crisis. On the other hand, other people refuse to wear masks and continue to congregate in groups, oblivious to the danger they pose to others. I think a lot of crises are like this, forcing people to show what they are “really” like deep down. They show us what we are made of, and this is sometimes quite uncomfortable. These revelations challenge us to do better and be better. I’m reminded of this frequently. Our pastor today talked about being called to action in this terrible time, and an author yesterday said that every day she must choose courage over comfort and complacency. I’m eager to get my vaccination so I can venture out without worrying about catching the virus. I’m no saint, like some of these folks, but I would like to do what I can to help when so many are suffering. Covid-19 has clarified some things for me about what is important in my life. I think being unable to do anything has highlighted the things that I miss the most and long for. I hope to be more attentive to those things when I am able. --Terese On the 17th it will be 10 months since I started to isolate and stay home. Who knew it would be this long? I am thankful for Zoom and the groups I am part of who continued to operate, even if remotely. I don't want to stay home another 10 months, but I can. I found out through Facebook that someone who was part of the church where I went to high school was actually in one of the test groups for the vaccine and just found out she was in the actual group and not the placebo. So good to see someone step up and help all the rest of us. That reminds me of all the people in many different countries who were willing to help this vaccine be developed at warp speed. Too bad sufficient plans weren't made for delivering it once it was here. It is almost as if they didn't believe it would actually happen although we were continually told it would be here, even as early as before the election. WHEW! I am so glad it is here and that I have an appointment for my first shot. Now here's hoping the next one will come as well. For the most part, I would like to quit thinking about COVID-19 from Sarsville. However, I am sure this year will never be thought of as not memorable. I want to remember some of the good and not all the challenges. --Carolyn Once upon a time, in a faraway nation called Sarsville, there was a small, shape-shifting horned bat named “Corona.” At just 19, Corona had already had an unhappy life. Because of his oddly shaped horn with a twist on the end like a soft-serve ice cream cone, all the kids at school made fun of him. They called him “Twister“ and pulled hard on his horn, then let it go so it would twist right back up with a snap. They were very cruel. While Corona could change his shape, no matter how hard he tried, he could not change his horn’s shape. Corona decided to strike out on his own, far from Sarsville to a mythical place called Murrica, where he was determined to become a famous television star on “The Assistant” reality show where the show’s contestants were promised they could “Make Assistants Gritty Again” by piling fake compliments on their boss and making him richer and richer—even richer than Murrica’s politician billionaires. In order to get on the show, Corona took the shape of a handsome, muscle-bound male human and stuffed his horn under the same MAGA hat all the contestants wore. He just knew he would be a big success in Murrica! After all, Corona was a social media whiz and had made a name for himself on a platform called “FaceMask,” where he posted a lot of outlandish stories that people took seriously. Once, he even made up a story about shining Quanon laser light beams into his nose to cure hiccups. Some people tried it and burned their noses clean off. The crazier the story, the more people believed it, and that made Corona laugh. Sheeple are so stupid! On the television show, Corona competed with a team of other contestants that included a beautiful female human called Remy Desivir, who had eyes like blue glass marbles and long, silky iridescent hair. The team was creating marketing plans for two new products their orange-skinned boss had thrown together, called GOYA Green and Modernavax. GOYA was an energy drink that was supposed to pump up the productivity and strength of ordinary humans. The assistants called the product “methavax” and joked that it was a rip-off when the boss wasn’t listening. Corona put lots of fake news stories on FaceMask about how good GOYA Green was, though, and people bought it by the gallon. The assistants were still running tests on Modernavax, and weren’t yet sure what it did or how to market it. Corona developed a crush on beautiful Remy, but he didn’t know how humans flirted with each other, and when he tried to sniff her ears and suck on her neck, as a young male bat would do to a female bat, she slapped him. “Get away from me, you twisted creep,” she shouted. This made Corona angry. He’d been called twisted far too long! “I’ve done a very beautiful job on the show,” he told Remy. “I’ve done more for this show than anyone else ever has, but you don’t appreciate it. Sad.” “If you come near me again, you’ll be sorry.” Remy threatened to sick her personal injury lawyer, nicknamed “The Hydroxy” on Corona. “The Hydroxy will take you out before you see him coming!” Then Remy told their boss about Corona sucking on her neck, and the boss thundered, “You’re fired!” Corona flew into a rage. He pretended to leave the room, but shape-shifted into a puffed-up sphere, full of barbed spikes and his one twisted horn. He bounced across dust motes in the air and stuck himself to the inside of Remy’s right nostril. The next time she breathed in, he planned to slither down through Remy’s air tubes all the way to her lungs and her heart, leaving painful twisted spikes all the way down. She’ll be sorry for getting me fired, Corona thought. Just then Remy sneezed, and when she did, Corona lost his grip and flew across the room, right into the vat of Modernavax they’d been testing. He quickly shape shifted back to his horned bat shape, then flew up to the boss’s straw-colored combover, flapped his wings to dry himself, and hissed loudly. The room went wild with screams and people hitting at Corona with their hands, their brief cases, and the squiggle straws they’d been sipping GOYA Green with. All this attention, made Corona feel important and he landed on a few more heads, flapping and hissing some more. After some more flying about, he happened to look up at his reflection in the windowpane, and to his surprise, his horn was perfectly straight, just like all the other bats in Sarsville! In fact, he thought he was a very, very beautiful horned bat. Could it be the Modernavax bath had straightened his horn? He thought maybe it had. Now he could go back to Sarsville with a straight horn—no one would make fun of him again. Corona was suddenly homesick. He snatched a squiggle straw from Remy’s hand and took a huge swig of GOYA Green. He could feel himself growing stronger and stronger—strong enough to break through a window and wing his way back to Sarsville at Warp Speed. Corona never bothered the humans again. The End --Janice I am utterly grateful to the scientists and doctors who have made a vaccine possible this fast. I am also grateful to our doctor who graciously let us get some of their clinic worker’s vaccine. It takes a time like this to reassess how important life is, and what parts of that life are especially dear. When I hear my relatives in Florida in a panic because they can’t get an appointment, it brings me back to USA Crazyland again. It also reinforces to me that we are all getting old, not just older, we are the ages that our grandparents died.
But I also know that without Covid and the use of Zoom, I would never have been able to enjoy an afternoon of music from my son’s porch in Pennsylvania, he and his friend Micah rehearsing to play at a Mennonite vigil tomorrow night, for peace in the important week to come. I know that I would never have been checking in with my dear friends weekly for a Zoom chat, especially including Jan and Donna who both moved away from here, but are still part of our group. And I realize once again how irrational humans can be, and that we must choose our closest friends carefully. You can lead a human to a vaccine, a facemask, hand sanitizer, but you can’t make them drink! So even after we are vaccinated, the new normal will be to watch out for the free-floating germs out there, working their way into both human thoughts and actions. Stay safe! --Cynthia While taking my walk one day this week, the podcast that I was listening to talked about delight. Now there is a good word that I don’t think of very often. I researched the difference between delight and joy, but did not find a definitive answer. Right now, delight seems to be an easier emotion than joy to focus on, as it keeps me in the present moment. Good food, wine and coffee are all delightful to me. There are also many wonderful things in nature - sunshine, trees, flowers, birds singing, mountains and oceans. My daughter-in-law just sent me several YouTube videos of she and my son playing mountain music that was delightful, and made me smile and tap my feet. Since I have not been able to see my sons and their families for an extended period of time, visiting with them on FaceTime or zoom is definitely an occasion for delight. Sometimes finding joy seems a little overwhelming, but I do think that I can focus on this word every day. Who knows where I will find delight tomorrow!
--Jeanette It's not a word I grew up with, and didn't hear until well into adulthood. Like sex, money was not something to be talked about in our home. There was always an undercurrent of lack, that there wasn't enough of anything to go around. So I had no money education, no training in how to budget or save. And then being married to D.F. (a functional alcoholic) who grew up in a very privileged family, we never worked out how to budget either. So at this very late date in my time on earth I am determined to actually learn how to do the math. This much comes in - this much goes out- this much is left & part of it needs to be put aside for rainy days. It really is simple!! But numbers, like spelling, is not my natural habitat. Numbers always trip me up! Especially the odd ones. 2, 4, 6, 8 - those guys seem friendly, easy to work with. But not the others; and fractions & percentages! Well, those are non-starters! This year I am going to keep records, check the bank books and figure out our very simple taxes. It is going to be a year of saving, and responsible spending. No more collecting beautiful crystal, or going to estate sales, no silver tea pots or delightful fabric pieces that I might use for some project. It's gonna be a new day, no matter how frustrated I get with it! I'll keep you posted on my progress! --donna It's a tradition at our church in Round Rock to issue "star words" to each member of the congregation at Epiphany, in recognition of the star the Magi followed to find the baby Jesus. Last year, I drew my star word from an offering plate that was passed around the congregation. My word was "wisdom". "I can work with that," I thought. I read a book on the feminine divine concept of Wisdom (Sophia). And a few months later, this blog was born: "Wise Women Write." It seemed fitting, and this blog was a meaningful part of 2020 for me. Last Sunday--again Epiphany Sunday--members were sent their star words in an email. We were assured the words were assigned in a totally random order. I believe it, because my word for 2021 has me stymied: Liveliness. That's one word I seldom associate with myself. While I am certainly often infused with energy (as the definition implies), there's also a connotation of extraversion or outgoing personality. An extravert I am not. We've been instructed to contemplate our words, use them however we like during the year--maybe print them and post them in a conspicuous place. What we do with the word is up to each of us. But at the end of the year, we'll be asked to consider what role the word played in the year's events for us, what it meant to us, or how it changed us. This will be an interesting process, maybe a characteristic I'll need to develop or grow into. I took down my "wisdom" star, but I haven't posted my new one yet. Soon. I'm thinking about it. They never said star words would be easy. --Janice All this week I have been thinking about this idea for 2021. During the holiday season, I listened to some of the musical programs put on by Lutheran colleges. The one that was especially meaningful to me is/was from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. I have never been there, but the title of their program grabbed me. This year is the first one in which I was conscious of the hymn, “For Everyone Born.” If I heard it before, I don't remember. In the introduction to the performance of this hymn, the person who arranged it quoted Cornel West and that stuck. The quote is “Justice is what love looks like in public.” With the things I learned as an employee of the Department of Corrections and, since, in other areas, I learned how unjust our society is and all the systems within in it. Every day I seem to learn, see or experience something new. I hope having this as my word and the work I will do this year will contribute in some small way to justice and a way to express my love for others. I plan to work on this personally and also with organizations committed to justice, be it the Equal Justice Initiative, ACLU, The Innocence Project or The Marshall Project or local organizations here in Tulsa like Demanding a JusTulsa or the Terence Crutcher Foundation. --Carolyn This week I took apart the braided rug my Mom made for me in 1984, as a present when I received my MSW degree. It had come apart at the seams, and some of the wool had frayed. My idea is to put it back together, smaller and tighter, without the dominant pink color. It is a bigger project than I even thought it might be. It made me realize that this Covid year has done the same thing for me, unraveled what was too old to use, cut out the frayed edges, and left me with enough material to create a new braid, with just the colors I want, and none other. I have begun to put that new braid together, and that will be my project for the year. I will not resume those things that took time, but were not important to me. I will weave in the new threads of computer knowledge that I have gained, to create a brighter internet image. I will take the time to sew in the different areas of the country that I will travel to as soon as my vaccines start working. I will take some of the wool (mostly pink) and make a small rug for my granddaughter. And most importantly, I will appreciate the love that went into making the original braided rug, wool strips cut by my mother’s hands, ironed, stitched, and sewn together In the way she showed her amazing creativity and love. --Cynthia |
Archives
January 2022
To subscribe and receive notification of new posts, download a feed reader:
RSS Feed Reader then click the RSS Feed button above. |