Life returned to normal so quickly that I never got the retirement rehearsal I contemplated when I broke my jaw, but the universe is now offering me another chance, thanks to Covid-19. No social activities allowed, of course, so if I thought I was going to volunteer at a school or retirement home, that’s not happening. But how else might I spend my days? (Technically I am still working, ‘but not so’s you’d know,’ as it’s very quiet.)
I’m grateful that the corona virus has arrived at just the right moment when my garden needs it annual spring clean-up. Spring is so busy for gardeners, I usually do a very slipshod job of this, but thanks to Covid-19, I can now actually devote considerable time to it, clearing out old fall leaves and dead top growth, thoughtfully pruning roses, reseeding the lawn patches where the skunks and possums searched for grubs, and seeding early crops such as lettuce. Maybe I’ll enter the growing season with no spring onions flourishing in my beds for once!
I also took into my head to refinish our dining table, the sort of project which always turns out to be much more labor-intensive than you anticipate when you plunge in with all your energy and high hopes. The stripper wasn’t as potent as it claimed to be, and I’ve spent untold hours scraping, but maybe I am finally turning a corner. Novel to have the time to devote to a big project like this!
Although I used an environmentally-friendly ‘safer stripper,’ hours of contact (I cannot seem to work wearing gloves) and constant anti-corona hand-washing have damaged my hands, which crack and bleed at the slightest provocation. Thus I have not practiced my ukulele. (I have also not practiced my ukulele because it is really hard!)
Stuck mostly at home, I may also have kept up better with friends and my community than I do under normal circumstances. Everyone seems to have a little extra time to chat from the sidewalk or post or email something thoughtful and kind.
I recently read that Margaret Mead, asked for the first ‘sign of civilization’ she’d found in the fossil record, answered: an ancient human skeleton with a fractured, healed femur. Why? Because, she explained, this indicated that humans had become ‘civilized’ enough to care for one another, perhaps at considerable risk to themselves. Grievously injured animals don’t stand much of a chance, with no one to protect or feed them. But this fortunate paleolithic human had a devoted friend or parent or offspring to care for them. Let’s all be that parent, child or friend to our neighbors. Wouldn’t that be a silver lining?
Linnetontheleaf 
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