I often annoy friends and family by being cheerful and optimistic. I say things like,”Change is good for us. We are being strengthened by this. Our faith is growing stronger through this.”

This morning, I’ve been out there watering the tomatoes, potatoes, squash, beets, carrots, raspberries I have planted in my little raised beds. I have added flour and yeast to my grocery list. I planted a tree. How hopeful of me! My bread will rise. My vegetables will grow. And I might even live long enough to see this little tree grow where the diseased birches once stood.

I’m trying. I really am. But the lives of everyone I know have been saddened by this in ways great and small.

As for me, I can no longer go for my long, daily walks as I wait for knee surgery to be scheduled months from now as surgery scheduling staffs struggle to take care of people. For me, it’s no biggie, but for some, it is.

Some young people have no graduation ceremonies and postpone their educations saying,” I didn’t just want to do school work. I wanted to go to college.” One boy has always gone to a private church school which is “going under” and cannot provide online learning. He’s now transferring to a public school which may or may not open in the fall. A couple I know is postponing having a baby because they have been laid off and have no insurance.

Feeding the hungry and homeless a has become a much bigger deal that it already was around here.

Being with the ones we love can’t happen if we really care about them.

If Pollyanna says, “Change is good for us; we are being strengthened by this; our faith is growing stronger through this; plant a tomato;” someone should slap her silly face.

Here is my illustration of Covid:

This is the only way my sister can be with my mother in the nursing home. She has put a feeder and cheerful lights outside Mother’s window. And here, Mother is resting peacefully, which is a rare, blessed moment.