Let Us Dance

Today I am grateful for "Holly Holy," "Feelin' Stronger Every Day," and "Layla" on this morning's playlist. I am grateful also for lots of fresh air and sunshine for the taking in recent days.

The "Word for the Day" at www.gratefulness.org yesterday was:

We did not ask for this room or this music; we were invited in. Therefore, because the dark 

surrounds us, let us turn our faces toward the light. Let us endure hardship to be grateful 

for plenty...We did not ask for this room or this music. But because we are here, let us dance.

(Stephen King)

I did ask for the music on my personal playlist this morning. Search and you find when it comes to songs you want to hear. None of us asked for the soundtrack of a pandemic though. It's really more like lack of a soundtrack. The usual sounds of garage doors opening and vehicles leaving for the day, of crowded school hallways between classes, of our grandsons' voices in the same room as us, of boisterous laughter and warm hugs among recovering friends. 

We had no choice but to accept this invitation to alter our lives and limit our usual mobility and interactions with others. We have no choice but to face the many layers of loss and grief we are experiencing in this uncharted territory of the year 2020. 

Truly, every new day and every new calendar year is uncharted territory. We just thought we had more of a handle on what we do and do not control. We were stuck and complacent in ways, and deteriorating in others. Now, we are shaken to our cores. 

These are dark times. There is hardship for each of us. Some minor, some significant. It is not a contest to determine who has it worse. We are all victims. And we are all victors . . . if we seize opportunities, as Stephen King says, to face the light, hear the music in new ways, and dance like never before. Our cores remain . . . it is from there that we dance.