“Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden.
Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly
to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.”
— Jim Rohn
While a colleague and I were talking business on the phone, he shared that he was getting to know his neighbors much better, especially the fathers he rarely saw in the past. Now, he sees families outside enjoying summer pleasures like throwing and catching. As I write this, the song ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ has started to play in my head.
I have been thinking a lot about families with children, aging parents, and even pets. We have been given this time to be with ourselves and those in our families with whom we live. At the same time, we are separated from many that we love, some of whom may be isolated from us when they need us the most — a challenging paradox.
I both read an article about and listened to an NPR interview with a woman who took a job washing dishes in her husband’s nursing home so she could see him regularly. She worried about COVID-19 but she worried more about what isolation would do to her fragile husband with memory issues. What an elegant solution!
This is a time where we can give and receive love and appreciation for our relationships with our families, friends, neighbors, work colleagues, world, nature, and so much more.
In the first months of our isolation, I listened to many who complained about cabin fever and how so much time with their spouse, significant other, children, and household members was both wearing and challenging. Now I see Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook posts of simple pleasure done together.
This global time out is giving us the opportunity to explore our inner landscape and our relationships. For the most part I have heard this said repeatedly: “I am grateful for my relationships.” And “I have gained the perspective of all the important touch points in my life.”
I am grateful that this is happening over the summer months where we can take our relationships outside and experience a summer reminiscent of the 1950s with simple, non-technology-based pleasures.
I have been accused of turning into my mother —I have spent my free time picking strawberries, sourcing Georgia peaches, growing my own garden, trying family recipes, and putting up corn for the winter. Next on my summer agenda is blueberry picking with a cousin in a patch that I picked with my mother. I will do as she did — put a belt around my waist with a small bucket up front so that both my hands are free to pick. I can feel the joy bubbling up as I envision this adventure.
Are you experiencing this speed up and slow down retro summertime with simple pleasures and a renewal of your relationships?
What is the summer-time-, social-distancing-habit you have adopted and are sharing?
My mind wandered further into the future and I envisioned the impression this marathon experience will leave like a thumb print upon us. I think that our children and grandchildren will remember this time with us being present long into the future. I can imagine that in 10 to 15 years college admission essays will be filled with stories of this time and the positive memories.
I believe that we have been given both a challenge and a gift. The challenge is to wisely navigate this pandemic safely, to embrace the social changes that have bubbled back to the surface, to use our time intentionally well, and to let go of the busyness and seize the opportunity to bake together, walk together, toss a ball together, and simply be. And maybe just maybe…in a small way turn back the clock to a simpler time.
What memories are you making?
Carpe Diem dear friends.
Leslie
“If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”
— Mother Teresa
