How long has the pandemic lasted? Longer than 525,600 minutes. Longer than two Easter celebrations; two graduation seasons. It has been so long now, that I find myself regularly forgetting about what life was like in the Before Times. So long that it is hard to tell how much we have changed, how much we have been affected.
How long has the pandemic lasted? Long enough that my six year old’s mouth had become a disaster by the time I finally ventured out and took her to the dentist. Something I would likely have put off even longer if she hadn’t complained of a toothache. Long enough that she needed oral surgery to repair the damage from months without intervention.
How long has the pandemic lasted? How have you been affected? How have the children in your life?
I felt a ton of shame sitting next to the very nice dentist, as he explained to me things I already knew. Shame that I had let things get this bad. Even though I knew there was no reason for shame. That we had moved, switched insurance, wanted to wait for positivity rates to go down. But still, I had somehow hoped that I could limit the ways my kids were affected. Knew they wouldn’t make it through unscathed, but maybe thought we could avoid not one, not two, but three silver crowns…
As we celebrated All Saints Day on Sunday, as I watched so many of you move up the aisle to light candles and record names of those beloved who have died, as I read those names and rang the bell, I was moved by how much we have all lost this year. How much we have all had to carry. How much we have all been marked and changed by this time.
We are coming back together. We have in person seminars and this week start two services and we have Church on the Prairie and Lessons and Carols. But our stewardship campaign is moving more slowly than we’d like. We don’t feel as connected as we’d hoped. There are some of you we haven’t seen, for complex reasons. Our lives have been moving on, and not in the ways they used to, for us as individuals, or as a community.
There’s no shame in it. But it’s hard.
A friend told me, when I confessed my dental shame, that “teeth are an evolutionary failure.” She was sort of joking, but I appreciated the idea that not all of this was my fault. That the things just wear out by doing what they’re supposed to do.
This life is hard, and over the past months, it’s been even harder than usual. But as we heard Art and Alan sing on Sunday, “this love, this love, between you and I, is older than that burning ball of fire up in sky.” I am grateful for every time you show up — virtually or in-person. I am grateful for the ways you support and care for one another. So grateful for the ways you believe in and support this community, in the work we are doing, in the life we are creating together, even now. We are bound together by love and hope, even in the midst of despair, even in the midst of pediatric dental woes. Blessed be.
Bromleigh
Thank you. I think about this a lot—-that we have changed in this pandemic time and that I really don’t know the full extent of it. Especially at church. I worry, sigh.
Peter and I were among what must seem like crotchety oldies, in that we did not hand out candy for Hallowe’en. We gave ourselves the reason that neither of our bodies was up to the task and that it seemed too cold to sit on the porch as we did in the Before Times. But friends all over the country have been reporting that they had a bumper crop of ghoulies and ghosties, far above any year in their memory. This strikes me as a positive sign, that somehow some very important parts of life are going to be okay. It’s not stopping my worrying, but it IS one thing that seemed to be okay.
We are NOT powerless! I made an attempt at celebrating Halloween in my part of our neighborhood where there are few youngsters. I decorated out front and made up candy free bags for would be trick-or-treaters that were made up bracelets, spiders and other trinkets. But at age 71 I just couldn’t keep up the momentum. Until……………I received the neighborhood flyer announcing the cordoned off section of our Oak Crest subdivision where the kids would be safe, unless they wandered into the dreaded Haunted House. Costumed Adults and Families set up decorated tables all along the route, most with candies of every imaginable size and shape, while others offered fresh veggie trays and bottled water. So I called the phone number on the flyer to volunteer to help construct the haunted house and spent part of Friday, Saturday and Sunday helping to bring back memories of what was once my “normal.” Eventually I came out of the closet and garnered a lifelike “Chuckie” mask and proceeded to scare many kids, some adults, and even a few dogs. Through that experience I realized that this was exactly how Halloween was celebrated in our subdivision when I moved here in 1991. These same several blocks were cordoned off from traffic to provide a safe haven for my young daughters, the ghouls and goblins that they were. The haunted house was presented by another family down the street, but the Halloween theme was still the same – Fun, Family and Safety. And if today’s young children and their parents are to build memories a new normal that reflects the same character and values that existed then, well, who better to help set that example than us old codgers, and the many Mom’s and children that made the entire night so festive. My point is that we all can play a role in defining any “new normal.” And it will take members of all of our generations to make this happen. Folks my age can bring some wisdom, or lemonade. The 50 year old set can bring the organizational skills. The young dads can do the heavy lifting, while the young Mom’s keep their men in line…..just like it’s always been. And the kids, they just bring themselves. Add some bottled water and stir and voila’……you have a giant neighborhood family…….just like we do it at UCG. So let’s take one “new normal” at a time.
Hmmmmmm, where do I start with the Christmas decorations? So many choices and such a meager credit limit.
Our neighborhood organized a thing, and it was glorious, and much candy was received by all. But you better believe I helped that girl floss!