These are odd times. If you are reading this then perhaps you are in the close-knit circle of readers who know I have not written in a very long while and will forgive me if anything I say here lends itself to a sense of tone-deafness. 

But since life has slowed down a lot, working from home, going almost nowhere except the grocery, and that only occasionally, I feel the need to say a few things about this time that we are experiencing. First, I hope that each one of us, in our albeit (hopefully) limited interactions with other members of our species, try to interact with each other in a way that leaves the other person better for that interaction. We should all be nice, love one another and have empathy for the fear each one of us may feel, the uncertainty and the recognition of the fragility that is this existence. My heart wants to burst that people are out there showing up for one another, whether they are front line emergency or medical care workers, or grocery checkers--there are some who are risking so much to keep things going along as normal as is possible. Thank you for this every day heroism of showing up. 

I have been walking more. Here there are Huisache and Redbud trees blooming, Mexican Buckeye and Dogwood, poppies, lantana and verbena. I will reiterate something Annie Dillard write that I have often quoted, advice that seems timely:

 

"My God, I look at the creek. It is the answer to Merton’s prayer, “Give us time!” It never stops. If I seek the senses and skill of children, the information of a thousand books, the innocence of puppies, even the insights of my own city past, I do so only, solely, and entirely that I might look well at the creek."

Now we have the time. I want to look well at the creek. Really see everything around me as if for the first time. 

I remind myself to pause and be thankful for this body that has worked so hard for me, carrying me over mountains and through childbirths, this body that has no choice but to go along wherever this brain wills it, regardless of how healthy the choice is. 

This world is a miracle, nothing less. We are blessed to walk a moment in its forests, swim in its oceans, laugh and love beneath its stars and sunsets. I hope if nothing else I learn from these difficult times to take nothing in this fleeting and exquisite life for granted.