37 aCounsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for bgood; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the cmorning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day
Alma 37:37
It feels a little bit like it *might* be the end of the world. QUE R.E.M. “It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel finnnnnne.” You go to grocery stores and the shelves are empty. There is not a package of toilet paper in sight. Everything has been cancelled, events, gatherings, and school. Businesses are closing down and people are staying home. I am staying home.
It feels weird walking down the isle of the grocery store. The other day I went to grab some yeast to make bread. I bought six packages two for me and two each for my Mom and sister. Never have I have I EVER stopped and looked at how many packages were left to make sure I hadn’t taken too many. That I wasn’t hoarding. Grocery shopping holds a trepedatious eerie feeling. I haven’t been back since maybe last Wednesday. I needed a break of the “in your faceness” of the havoc Covid-19 has wrecked on the world.
What to do…
I am not one to sit around and wait to figure out what to do. Right away I checked my pantry, the freezer, and the fridge. I was worried about my second graders. So I got to work:
- We canned 40 jars of black and pinto beans that were sitting in the pantry.
- We surveyed all of the food we had in the pantry/freezer/cupboards
- Church was cancelled so we had church at home
- No food is being wasted
- We made banana bread using the bananas in that picture that had gotten too ripe
- We used a self canned jar of apples to make apple crisp
- We cleaned
- We did ALL the laundry
- We read books
- We talked
- Everyday I made sure to go outside and walk or hike
- I made a YouTube channel for my second graders..if you want to follow along I essentially read a book aloud each day. (Just search Dior Tidwell in YouTube) It is a fun way for me to stay connected to my class. So many of the Moms told me that when the kids watch the video and I ask a question they answer the screen. That pulled HARD at my heart strings.
There are things I don’t like about social distancing and there are things that I do like. I like cooking my own meals, I like not being SO busy my head is spinning, I like that on Saturday I actually got to do Saturday stuff and not just a laundry list of chores that never seem to end. I liked that I woke up and didn’t have to be picture perfect beautiful make-up and hair. I liked that I can wear leggings each day. I LOVE the slow down. LOVE. I love so much seeing so many families out walking and riding bikes together. I hope that I can make some these changes part of my routine. There is more self care, more family, more time, and more love.
Those are the things I am taking away from this.
