Earth Tones

Today I am grateful for timing . . . when it comes to things like a new mattress delivery and the hard work of healing.

I continue to applaud the many frontline workers who go back day after day to jobs that must be so very draining and emotional, and yet you continue to offer heartfelt care and comfort to the people you are all helping. 

Words that have been floating around in my head in recent weeks are ones like dire and bleak. The COVID-19 pandemic is raging, worse than ever, and the runaway train it has become will not come to a screeching halt for a long time. People will suffer and die. The holidays will come and go. What will early 2021 look like?  We don't know. 

We can somewhat safely say what today will look like. It will look like how I choose to frame it. Doom and gloom, or a day that can be appreciated in ways big and small?

Darcy and I went for a bike ride yesterday, a treat for late November. With no snow on the ground, the landscape is also bleak, muted with grays and browns. But you know what? With all the trees devoid of leaves and the foliage and ground cover died back, we see what we don't see at other times of the year. 

We got a view, and accompanying sound, of the beautiful Vermillion River:

Thoughts of bleak and gray were replaced by the idea of strong and steady earth tones. This river and these falls (minor compared to what is upstream from this vantage point) have survived and kept flowing. 

I believe humanity will survive and continue moving forward after this most unprecedented and concerning time. We don't know what it will look and feel like, but I think it is safe to say the earth tones will sustain us until the vivid colors of hugs and smiles can be fully shared again.