Back to the Grind
Living gratefully today, I appreciate hearing the voices of my grandsons. They make me smile and gain perspective back about what matters most.
Monday morning. Back to the grind of the work week, which my husband Darcy, son Sam, and I now share under one roof. It's a new grind, this pandemic grind. I would take the old grind of getting into my car for my commute and roaming the halls of my school, greeting students and colleagues with a smile and hello. The old grind of another meeting, another face-to-face with a struggling student.
I would welcome the return to normalcy, but I know that is going to take some time. Our efforts to stay home and social distance are making a difference and are the right thing to do, as I watched the U.S. death toll hit another grim milestone overnight. . . 40,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19.
So we grind out our days and support one another when we hit rough patches, as we all have and will.
As Darcy and I ran the other morning, this poem came together between my strides:
Welcome Sounds
Saws sawing,
hammers hammering,
vehicle tires rolling,
flour mill working;
welcome sounds all.
Footfalls on a run,
rhythmic breathing, in and out,
red robins and bluebirds
in early morning song,
waterfalls falling;
welcome sounds all.
Life goes on . . .
most assuredly and with hope.
LV
Our community is home to an operating flour mill, and we can smell it as we run by. It had me thinking about the older process of grounding wheat into flour by hand, using millstones. Millstones are useful for grinding wheat. Millstones have another meaning: a heavy burden.
I don't know anyone who isn't at least somewhat impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. I don't know anyone who hasn't lost out on something special in recent weeks. The burden of online education is heavy on students, teachers, and parents. The economic burden of a slowdown is heavy on bank accounts and savings.
The emotional burden is accumulating as well. In homes, communities, states, and in our nation and world. It is also accumulating in our hearts and souls.
All the more reason to step outside and hear the hope as we walk and listen. All the more reason to keep supporting one another with patience and compassion. And to give that patience and compassion to ourselves as we strive to navigate this new territory in which we find ourselves.
What are some welcome sounds that bring you relief and lighten the burdens of these times? Savor those sounds today. Give thanks for them. Share them with others.
Monday morning. Back to the grind of the work week, which my husband Darcy, son Sam, and I now share under one roof. It's a new grind, this pandemic grind. I would take the old grind of getting into my car for my commute and roaming the halls of my school, greeting students and colleagues with a smile and hello. The old grind of another meeting, another face-to-face with a struggling student.
I would welcome the return to normalcy, but I know that is going to take some time. Our efforts to stay home and social distance are making a difference and are the right thing to do, as I watched the U.S. death toll hit another grim milestone overnight. . . 40,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19.
So we grind out our days and support one another when we hit rough patches, as we all have and will.
As Darcy and I ran the other morning, this poem came together between my strides:
Welcome Sounds
Saws sawing,
hammers hammering,
vehicle tires rolling,
flour mill working;
welcome sounds all.
Footfalls on a run,
rhythmic breathing, in and out,
red robins and bluebirds
in early morning song,
waterfalls falling;
welcome sounds all.
Life goes on . . .
most assuredly and with hope.
LV
Our community is home to an operating flour mill, and we can smell it as we run by. It had me thinking about the older process of grounding wheat into flour by hand, using millstones. Millstones are useful for grinding wheat. Millstones have another meaning: a heavy burden.
I don't know anyone who isn't at least somewhat impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. I don't know anyone who hasn't lost out on something special in recent weeks. The burden of online education is heavy on students, teachers, and parents. The economic burden of a slowdown is heavy on bank accounts and savings.
The emotional burden is accumulating as well. In homes, communities, states, and in our nation and world. It is also accumulating in our hearts and souls.
All the more reason to step outside and hear the hope as we walk and listen. All the more reason to keep supporting one another with patience and compassion. And to give that patience and compassion to ourselves as we strive to navigate this new territory in which we find ourselves.
What are some welcome sounds that bring you relief and lighten the burdens of these times? Savor those sounds today. Give thanks for them. Share them with others.
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