After the 2005 Federal Flood, handmade signs started appearing on telephone and electrical poles around New Orleans that said: Think That You Might Be Wrong. There was a randomness to their placement, which added to the mystery. The signs were around long enough the word wrong was scratched out on one placed prominently on a telephone pole by the Dumaine Street bridge over Bayou St. John and now read: Think That You Might Be A Robot, which…
Flower, my Russian friend, has many pithy sayings but one of my favorites is “Hope dies last.” This has been a reminder during my darkest hours that to give up hope is the equivalent of annihilation. So I always go through my list and at the bottom is this: I hope I don’t give up hope. On Friday, March 13, I decided to not send Tin to school. At that time, I had been sick…
Tin’s Wednesday homeschool assignment was figurative language. Here’s my homework. Simile COVID-19 is like a staycation you didn’t want. Metaphor Social distancing was a spigot of cold water dripping daily onto my soul. Personification The pandemic tiptoed into our lives sometimes appearing as the Angel of Death but most times as a wake up call to stop living like the dead.
Tin is frequently called out for being disruptive in school. I know his invisibility in a class of 27 students, seven with special needs, fosters some of his behavior. He wants to be Seen. Heard. Touched. Here in our home school, his rhythm is the antithesis of my “get r done” process. I go after a task as if it were my sole purpose in life. He flits in and out of his tasks as…
I’ve been reading what the experts say and it appears this coronavirus might have the tenacity to stick around forever. There is hope that some of us become immune and hope that someone will find a vaccine. Today, I had to tell Tin that he is most likely not going back to school to finish 5th grade. Instead, there is going to be a lot more of me, the dog, the cat and the fish…
The Kabbalah speaks about an Angel assigned to you when you are in the womb to show you everything you will need to know to be able to complete your tikkun in this lifetime. But because our brains expand in many directions as we grow older, we simply don’t remember the soul memory – so to reignite remembering we can use one of the 72 names of God as a mantra. Breath in vav, breathe…
There are silver linings to this pandemic. Families quarantined together are experiencing a closeness unknown before this time. Friends near and far are receiving text messages, emails, and Facetime/Zoom/Skype/What’sApp missives to stay safe and know they are loved. The world seems smaller. The dogs are getting walked. The pantries are being cleaned. We are capable of anything including: Not making money Not being physically close to people Not freaking out Teaching our own kids Cooking…
Thank God It’s Fabulous Today was another day of undoing. I didn’t sleep all night so when I went back to bed at 5AM this morning, it was no surprise the next time I looked at the clock was 10AM. That meant I was late for everything – getting Tin set up on school work, breakfast, which now felt almost like lunch, and on and on. I managed to make two onion pies – help…
If Tin has heard it once, he’s heard it a million times, the most vulnerable people who get the coronavirus are over 60. Today, before starting a fresh new day, we went over why we hit so many snags yesterday. My friend, Susie, said I should have Tin draw, write or sing about what makes him scared, angry and sad. And then ask him what I can do for him. Scared: Losing you cause you’re…
Unlike social media, here is a place I can speak the truth. Yesterday had many low points. I woke with a great plan to take advantage of the Crosby Arboretum which has opened to the public. You can go be in nature and not be around anyone and I thought we needed to shake up our routine. However, after Tin’s morning meeting he decided he wanted a huge breakfast – which I made – pancakes,…