I am not into looking back too much. I don’t want to listen to music I listened to growing up (especially at weddings). I don’t want to see old movies I have already seen (even my favorites). Bookshelves of read books are probably not going to get looked at again (except for art books). I like discovering things from the past I missed but am really built for the next new thing. Yet…. I am starting to appreciate this time with my family in a way I never want to see go. I like protecting each other by making sure we have masks and hand sanitizer. I like each outing being such an adventure. I like it feeling as if Thanksgiving dinner is every night with all of us gathered around. I like playing Dad and even more, like being entertained by the daily highs and lows. I like connections so immediate you can smell them.
I love reaching out to friends just to see how they are. I love seeing how we are all making something of each day with all these doors closed. I love really listening to jazz I might not not normally have the patience for. I love taking new pictures I would never have taken if I could hold your hand. I am grateful to get back to the Arts & Leisure section after too much CNN. I love making crepes for the first time being such a big deal (they are mostly butter). I love seeing what my boys are doing during the school day. How they wiggle and engage. How they check off their lists. How they ask for MY help! I love this little heater in the basement keeping me warm when I write this. I love Costco and Aldi and having lots of scallions and lemons and the ridiculous fleece walking shawls my kids snagged. I love Stephie pulling out two of the cups and saucers we got for our wedding to make breakfast coffee feel so fancy. I love each sunny day so much more than I ever did before. I love all the virtual meetings that are so much more intimate and also super silly. I love being able to record everything, even though I will never listen to it.
I will move on at some point like everyone else, but I am going to miss all of this. It is a gift of a very different kind of time we would have never had. Having limitations on what we can do gives everything more meaning. After the first spring virus scare and the reality of now, I am grateful for so much more emerging from so much less.
Happy Thanksgiving 2020