Regeneration

While I had the meat and bones of this blog in place, I was struggling with a title and a way I could neatly package my thoughts together. Then it hit me on this rainy morning…

As I have been working on this piece, I could not help but wonder if my intuitive nature somehow predetermined my prior blogs about stillness, empath’s social distancing, etc. While I do write about what moves me at that given time, I cannot answer this question for certain. A friend suggested just the other day that I was living my dream in social isolation…lol!

When you go thru a pandemic as we are currently experiencing, you gain insight to the following lessons:

• When all you hear or read begins to center around Covid-19 symptoms, you begin to wonder if every little ailment means you have the coronavirus.
• What is worse is that this virus displays many of the same symptoms as your typical Spring allergies.
• You have the local entrepreneur who makes elderberry syrup on speed dial. Forget the precise measurements, it becomes much easier to take a swig 2 x daily.
• You realize you cannot stretch the dollar to hoard conveniences…and compromise accordingly.
• The exception may be hay for the horses since shipments from out of state are being delayed at road blocks
• Consider yourself lucky if your place of business remains open one week.
• Consider yourself lucky if you are one of 10 remaining employees when everyone else is furloughed  the next week.
• Consider yourself lucky the following week when place of business is shut down that you have 4 weeks of PTO time at pre-cut salary
• You opt to take PTO time instead of unemployment because you have too many bills to pay.
• Additionally,  you cannot afford to have your insurance messed up during this uncertain time. This is especially true if you have 2 daughters that refuse to practice social distancing.
• Send your daughters to their dad’s since they feel they are exempt from the pandemic risks.
• Consider paying bills with sheets of toilet paper.
• Consider whether or not there is enough emoilient in the world to replenish prunish hands from washing numerous times throughout the day.
• Wear in-between work clothes to work during last week after cutbacks and before furlough since you are not certain where you will be needed.
• Begin to feel fortunate that you had already cut back cable, hair salon, and nail salon.
• You do not have the money to be out and about anyway during shelter in place.
• When your barn makes the call to close to boarders after Governors call for shelter in place, you make an extremely tough decision to relocate them during this temporary time due to their special needs.
• Management of home barn is understanding and gracious about temporary relocation.
• Recieving barn is understanding and compliant with special needs of horses during your absence.
• Special needs can be met because of 24/7 team members that live on site.
• Alternate location sends photos and/or texts each day to provide peace of mind regarding their welfare.
• Enjoy the time you get to sleep later than 5 AM…you are paying premium price to do so AND may never get to do so again in your life time.
• When you stress over finances, trust God will provide.
• Feel grateful that taxes were extended 90 days.
• Fervently look for the stimulus check to arrive.
• Feel grateful that your partner in crime and her husband (Sea Island chef) and mother feed you…not out of necessity but for the fear you will wither away from being too busy to eat.
• Purchase fly sheets for the Canadian horse that is not accustomed to bugs…or, consequently, fly spray.
• Spend the extra time time with pets.
• Wash hair, shave legs, DIY mani/pedicures
• Sit on the front porch when it is raining and contemplate earth’s beauty and her ability to nurture life around her.
• Take naps when feeling run down from the physical overload of catch-up chores
• Wash vehicles to rid of leaves, tassels and pollen. Plan to repeat every other day until mid May.
• Blow off driveway. Plan to repeat every other day unless you want to rake your driveway in the end.
• Observe your OCD taking over when you are isolated at home for 4 weeks.
• Spend as much time outdoors when the weather is nice and plan indoor activities for rainy days.
• Spend more time exercising, especially since you will not be riding during shelter in place.
• You feel elated when your barn closes to the public (before closing to boarders)…no more dodging the tourists for a while.
• The pandemic crisis does not effect your life of isolation and social distancing, as an empath.
• Even when the environmental situation ceases, please maintain the 6 ft protocol where I am concerned.
• You begin to question what day of the week it is.
• On the rare occasion, you venture outside of your home out of necessity, you witness a compassionate gentleman on the hair color aisle in CVS, with phone to his ear looking for the dictated shade of color for recipient. I wish I had my phone with me to capture this endearing moment!
• Plan on cleaning essentials ahead of time since you know you will be tending to “Spring Cleaning” chores.
• Stockpile on super glue and duck tape, as you can use this time “fixin’ broke stuff” (maintenance chief’s quote at work)
• Feel sympathy for your garbage collector during this time since you are deep cleaning and purging.
• Grab your disposable gloves from locker at barn to use as a safety precaution in public places.
• Question the doctor that comes into the convenience store in his scrubs on his way home.
• Question the person who enters your nearby convenience store with a mask…is that person contagious or simply being cautious?
• The church you love (but grew too large for your empath comfort) is now offering on-line services…YAY!
• When a barn peep starts a conversation about Italy banning riding (due to hospital overcrowding) as you are heading out  ride one of your horses, you suddenly feel as though your riding feels SO insecure that day.
• You hope scratches, blemishes and cuts from yardwork heal before being allowed in public again for one’s fear of you having leprosy.
• When finances are guarded, at best, during this environmental uncertainty, is when you feel the need for retail therapy but have no money for such foolishness.
• Instead you find the thrill of mending, tending and breathing life into salvage or winterized plants.
• When you are too late to get the extra toilet paper before furlough, paper towels will work as long as disposed in plastic grocery bags instead of toilet.
• Alcohol and Listerine work great in absence of Clorox wipes…again you were behind the eight ball before furlough. I always clean with Listerine, anyway, because bleach can be toxic to my birds.
• Set out to get tonic water in the event you succumb to illness. Quinine in tonic water was used to help combat malaria in earlier years.
• Entertain yourself by walking around or over freshly laundered rugs to preserve their fluffiness.
• Participate in the concentration games on FB during breaks to exercise your mind.
• Start your day with exercise to give you the pep to tackle the more dreaded tasks.
• When your vacuum cleaner bites the dust (no pun intended), borrow your mother’s to finish the job at hand. Simply have her place it on front porch for pick-up to eliminate possible contamination.
• Never mind wearing masks when in essential places, you will need one when stirring up dust particles in your house.
• Question your mental state when you start having conversations with Myrtle (resident rat snake) when she appears. Worse…when you start feeding her a duck or chicken egg.
• Same doubt of mental wellness occurs when Maple (long time salamander resident on front porch) appears and you begin conversing with her.
• Congratulations, you have found every matching Tupperware lid!
• Now, if you can just find that last sock mate that you have determined was consumed in the dryer.
• Become more aware of your neighbor’s routines and schedules.
• Call your elderly neighbor to check on her. Never mind the phone conversation lasted 2 hours…you just successfully stalled on rearranging the dust in your house that much longer.
• Finally take the time to roll up the extension cord to the blower correctly. Perfect this task until you do not have any folds or creases.
• Enjoy meeting Sunshine (Harris Teeter cashier by day and a cop by night). Not only can you use one more public safety allie in your pocket while your tiny humans are on the loose…but she even offers you some of her Purell when departing.
• When finding the next task that needs tending to, walk every corner of your house and yard admiring all of your hard work.
• Enjoy the quiet solitude to reflect on your blessings and find reverence in God’s beauty all around us.
• Wonder when the time comes, will you remember how to dress appropriately to be seen in public again…to include bra and makeup?
• Don’t make any risky moves since your chiropractor is closed during this time.
• Wonder what will happen if everyone is still under house arrest when we enter hurricane season.
• Finally, prepare to do all of this again during the next hurricane evacuation 🙂

Take home message…time keeps moving. It is about how we move and synchronize to God’s calling and the given current environmental situation.

Consider the salamander’s characteristics…they are content in their burrow for 360 days and have perfected the art of stillness without any concern for what tomorrow will bring. They also have the unique ability to regenerate tails and limbs.

When Maple appears, I know it is a message from the Universe reminding me to be still, be patient, endure the uncertainty and have faith that we will emerge from this time of regeneration.

Walls do not confine us if they are walls we built.