Completely Different, Yet Utterly the Same

      We are living in ironic times, my friends.  This thought once again hit me up-side the head today.  I haven't written in my blog since earlier in the summer when my pup Sydney and I were victims of the dog attack.  We have fully recovered from that.  My back is fine again, after physical therapy and a shot.  Sydney is fine and resocialized with help from a dear friend and groomer, Terri, who gave her several playdates at her shop.

      Just the other day I was telling a friend that I was finally really enjoying summer at last.  Sydney and I were taking our daily walks again.  I rejoined the YMCA and started water fitness classes and swimming laps.  The early COVID-19  worry and trauma had diminished in my heart.  I had become comfortable with what is now a "new world" awareness of the presence of a pandemic virus in our midst and was comfortable with the daily news reports, the discussions about various learning possibilities, and always wearing my mask in public.
Then I find out we have been exposed to COVID -19 and must quarantine for 14 days.  That's when the irony of our new world hit me. We are walking a tightrope of a life that is completely different than what we have experienced in the past, yet in so many ways our world is utterly the same as it has always been.

     We live in a world with a highly contagious virus that has the ability to make total strangers ill when they are in our presence, so we must stay in our homes, mandated by agencies, until the danger passes. We do this with just the possibility that we might be infectious.  This is a different scenario than we have had for many years with modern medicine as a luxury in the world.  Yet it is not altogether foreign,  There were times in the past when families would quarantine to protect themselves and others due to contagions. We have just been blessed not to have to deal with this for a very long time. So, while is it different for us...it is also the same.

     The upcoming school year may look very different than past years.  Families may choose to send their students to school buildings and classrooms.  Other families may decide to keep their students at home for remote learning and there are even options for hybrid learning, spending some days onsite and others remote.  With the availability of internet and technology, these choices are possible.  A whole new learning environment for both students and teachers.  Yet, the unknown of a new school year and the excitement and anxiety of the unknown is the same as other years.  Every student and teacher knows the anxiety felt in preparation for a new school year. We have much of that anxiety this year not knowing how everything will work out. Students are worried about who their teacher will be, will they have any friends in their class. How hard will the work be?  Teachers are anxious about what students will be in their classes, will they be able to meet every need, how will they juggle loving their school kids and the demands of their own families and how to follow all the protective protocols.  This is the same every year and hasn't been changed by the pandemic, ironically it has just been enhanced.

Wearing masks all day is different for all of us in public settings.  But showing love for our fellow man through our actions is the same as it has always been.  Another illustration of different, but the same.

As I realized these things, I felt encouraged.  Much the same way that I feel when I watch all my old television programs on my favorite station, "Me TV."   I watch "The Beverly Hillbillies," "My Three Sons," and "Leave it to Beaver" each morning during the summer before I get up for my day.  They are done by eight o'clock in the morning, and a great way to ease into my day.  I love the old shows that were filmed many generations ago because they reinforce that though our world and technology have changed drastically, the people are very much the same as they have always been.  People fall in love, children can be mischievous sometimes but can learn from their experiences, and funny is funny no matter the time period.

I think as we all move forward this year and those years following, we can help ourselves by embracing the differences we must face in our world, with the knowledge that this difference is not so foreign when we love each other the same way we always have.  As my mother-in-law has often said, "We must watch the eyes now." The smile is hidden behind a mask, but we still know how someone is doing by seeing their eyes.  I love this because it tells me to look at the world in a new way, and embrace it.  Yes, there is a worldwide pandemic that has changed our world and how we do things, but caring and love are the equalizers and keeps things just the same as before.  God Bless you and keep you all!