All the messages blasting across social media and news outlets had me thinking that maybe I just didn’t want to add to the mix. I do not like drama of any kind. I try really hard to err on the side of sanity. I do not like alarmist thinking or acting. I crave calm. I like to de-escalate a situation. I work very hard to be at peace amidst a storm. Hysteria repels me. I long to be a peace-maker.
So, when the whole earth is affected by a virus, my immediate response is to remain calm. To find the sanity in the craziness. To be wise, but not “get crazy” with all the warnings coming at us 24/7.
We are home schoolers already. So our lives have not changed that drastically. For years and years I have been the weird mom that cleans the public restroom before we use it – so we have been practicing “cleanliness next to godliness” forever! (And can I just add right here that practically no place of business has a decent clean restroom – and this is extremely disturbing to me! Do people not know how to clean anymore? I just don’t understand this… I could write an entire blog about this. Managers need to go in their bathrooms and ask themselves if their children or grandchildren should use it – and then get to some serious cleaning. Stay tuned for my “TedTalk” on clean bathrooms; kidding, I digress, but I could do it- I promise!)
So, being at home, doing “our thing,” is not new. We went to the beach (3 of us) in the middle of a school week, because we can, and I didn’t blink about our safety. We weren’t within 10 yards of anyone the whole time. Salt air, salt water, exercise – I felt completely safe and out of harms way, and in no way endangered anyone else on the beach.
Frankly, my overall feeling since this all started has been that we have achieved a sense of “World Peace.” I know, seems like I may be a little out of touch, but driving down our roads, and roads across America, and maybe the world; there are not many cars, (except 95 North – what is that all about?) But on the whole, there seems to be a calmness. A collective breathing in and exhaling. It is just a general sense I get – maybe it is just me.
So, I have wondered…
Perhaps we can emerge from this realizing that we can do without a lot more than we thought.
Perhaps homeschooling is not so scary and alien an idea.
Perhaps home life is more fun than we previously thought.
Perhaps protecting the vulnerable is a collective priority after all.
Perhaps we don’t need to run pell-mell in every direction all the time.
Perhaps we can have fewer priorities.
Perhaps, as Mother Teresa admonished, world peace truly does begin at home.
Perhaps.
Peacefully Yours,
Charlotte
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