Houston, Texas, April 19, 2020

Greetings from the inside, where I remain constantly — well, constantly except for essential runs to Costco and Trader Joes and my daily walk (weather permitting). I am pleased to report that we are no longer running out of toilet paper or paper towels thanks to last Thursday’s Costco run.

Thursday was the first time I have been in a car in three weeks. I have not filled my car with gas in a month and, even after my trip to Costco, my tank is almost full.

I’m not new to working from home

I worked from home for over ten years so it doesn’t feel that strange to me to be working from home again. For much of that time I was on the road, but there were also weeks where I did not travel, having meetings on conference calls instead. It was a respite for my road-weary traveler self. The first few weeks of quarantine sort of felt like that.

I left my travel job almost five years ago. Technology for virtual meetings has gotten a lot better in that time. Since the quarantine I have learned to do things a little differently and flexed some “virtual” muscles. Russell and I signed up for a Zoom account for personal use to chat virtually with our family and friends. After a couple of tries my bridge group discovered a good bridge app so that we could play bridge on iPads while Zooming on our laptops. I have even participated in a couple of Zoom happy hours. And, I have become well-versed in Microsoft Teams -– the software I use for work. Sharing my screen and using the chat function is fun — and seeing the crazy backgrounds people use during meetings is hilarious!

I am watching TV shows I probably would not have watched in a non-quarantined world. I binged Tiger King along with the rest of the country; I caught up on TV series I had put off before, too tired to get involved after commuting home, cooking dinner and doing my evening chores.

But I am getting restless

But, like everyone else I know, I am starting to get restless. I am ready for this to end, even though I don’t see an end in sight. On social media people have begun to shift from funny memes and parody COVID songs to posts about protests over the stay-at-home orders and to sad and disgruntled posts about missing graduations and proms. This virus has taken much from us. It’s not simply that we are stuck at home. Some of us have lost jobs, some of us have endless virtual conference calls, some are trying to cope with homeschooling children while working full time on virtual conference calls: all of us are confused and uncertain of when this will end. We miss friends, family, grandchildren, restaurants, people, hugging and socializing. We feel powerless. It is scary.

Humor has been a great way to help us to cope. The number of texts I get regularly from friends with a funny meme or video from Instagram, TikTok or Facebook has increased exponentially, because the free time we used to use to do the things we liked doing is now spent on digital media platforms. Heck, I barely even knew what TikTok was before all this started.

The importance of grace

On Facebook, I follow Jen Hatmaker, author, inspirational speaker, mother of five and fellow Texan. She is hilarious and vulnerable all at once. She goes live on Facebook often. About week ago after a tough day with her teenage children she live-streamed herself hiding fully clothed in her dry bath tub using a trash can as a table to hold her giant glass of wine! Last Friday afternoon she went live, sharing through tears how tough it had been for her and her teenagers on that particular day. She went on to discuss how no one was prepared for this very unexpected COVID-19 situation and consequently it was almost impossible to be our very best selves right now. She talked about the importance of grace and urged her audience to forgive more quickly — even when we don’t feel like it — and to say “I am sorry” — even when we are not yet ready to do so.

Her post moved me. Every day, I am trying to live in the moment, but it’s hard to do that all the time. Besides offering grace to my family and friends, I am also trying to offer it to myself –- something I have been working on for years.

I will end my blog today with a reminder to show those you love some extra grace during this time and with a reflection a good friend shared on Facebook this week.

Stay safe and stay healthy!

We Are Not In the Same Boat…

I heard that we are all in the same boat, but it’s not like that. We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Your ship could be shipwrecked and mine might not be. Or vice versa.

For some, quarantine is optimal. A moment of reflection, of re-connection, easy in flip flops, with a cocktail or coffee. For others, this is a desperate financial and family crisis.

Some who live alone are facing endless loneliness. For others it is a time of peace, rest & time with their mother, father, sons & daughters.

With the $600 weekly increase in unemployment some are bringing in more money to their households than they were when working. Others are working longer hours for less money due to pay cuts or loss in sales.

Some families of 4 just received $3400 from the stimulus while other families of 4 saw $0.

Some were concerned about getting a certain candy for Easter while others were concerned whether there would be enough bread, milk and eggs for the weekend.

Some want to go back to work because they don’t qualify for unemployment and are running out of money. Others want to kill those who break the quarantine.

Some are home spending 2-3 hours/day helping their children with online schooling while others are spending 2-3 hours/day educating their children on top of a 10-12 hour workday.

Some have experienced near-death from the virus, some have lost someone to it and some are not sure if their loved ones are going to make it. Others don’t believe this is a big deal.

Some have faith in God and expect miracles during this 2020. Others say the worst is yet to come.

So, friends, we are not in the same boat. We are going through a time when our perceptions and needs are completely different.

Each of us will emerge, in our own ways, from this storm. It is very important to see beyond what is seen at first glance. Not just looking, actually seeing.

We are all on different ships during this storm experiencing very different journeys.

Unknown author

Remember we all have our own stories: work on helping build people up; don’t judge them for how they handle things.