Is this day 28 or 30 of being under the stay-at-home general direction turned civil instruction?
I seriously don’t know.
I’ve lost count.
Tom Hanks made a quip in his “SNL (at home)” monologue last night that it wasn’t Saturday, instead everyday is now just “today”. That’s more profound than even Tom, Loren and the writers probably realize.
Today is today.
So what do we do with today?
The whole “unexamined life” thought (you know the Socrates’ dictum, the one about it being not worth living) has come to mind lately with the additional time of each next today on my hands. Certainly, I am blessed to be one who is healthy and still able to work from home; it’s not the same as being out and about seeing clients but it is still a little something productive every weekday to bring in a few shekels for the family. It’s just that now instead of investing 8, 10, even 14 hours per day in work-related activities, I’m realizing only 4-6 actual hours per day being calculably absorbed in production spread over the course of the day. I’m rediscovering early morning stillness and prayer. I’m reading print books and listening to audiobooks and uplifting podcasts a LOT more. I’m completing some of the house to-do project list.
And now I’m writing nearly everyday.
Writing is my something new.
A few years back Sarah and I realized there were very few books (instruction, encouragement, memoir) on raising special needs children. If you know much about us, you know Julian is our oldest and has his challenges. We are quick to acknowledge that though he has his challenges, he is healthy and strong and high-functioning in so many ways. We recognize that for the comparative burden-lessening blessing that it is. Yet it is still a challenge. Back those few years we felt like very few others knew what we faced. Then, because I’m married to a wonderfully creative woman who writes the most elegant posts and because I’ve written a song or two or hundred over the years, we thought “what if we wrote about our experiences with Julian? Maybe that kind of memoir would give insight to others.”
Grandiose idea?
Maybe.
A realized dream already (or anytime soon)?
Not hardly.
Where do you start something like that 20+ years into an experience?
I decided to do something new: write little blog posts about anything to get used to the work of writing, editing, re-writing and publishing to then see how it affects others.
I also started to read more. It was at that same time (providentially) that I was encouraged by those above me in my work world to be a more avid reader. Great books do abound in all genres. Sarah and I have managed to find a few in the very
arena like what we wanted to write, books that help with raising Julian. One of the best by far, so far, has been Aching Joy by Jason Hague. His son Jack is one who has his own unique struggles and Jason does a masterful job of recounting important events, feelings and impressions all while looking toward Hope. It’s a worthy read even if you don’t live with your own Julian or Jack. It’s a perspective broadening and heart acclimating read.
Writing about special needs-ness, however, is a tough topic. Important, just weighty. So I’ve taken to writing about anything that strikes my fancy. Some posts have, in fact, been about Julian, while others have been recounting of work travels and travails and all the impact on my heart, mind and soul. Some pieces have been societal observations. Once in a while there’s even been a rock n roll moment worth recounting. All that to say is that by one word at a time, usually right thumbed typed into Notes on the iPhone, these skills are being exercised and learned.
During this shelter-in-place moment in history our posse is all healthy.
We are thankful.
We pray for the end of this virus scourge on humanity. We pray for healing and the full restoration of the people suffering and the complete eradication of the virus. For those of us least affected by the illness and only sidelined by the social distancing dynamics, let me encourage you to “do something new” while we’re in this season.
What will yours be?
Workout at the house daily?
Take up running in the neighborhood?
Write real letters to friends and family far and wide?
Plant a garden?
Like my sweetheart, spend extra hours diving headlong into the hobby she loves? (she’s making some incredible handmade greeting cards lately!)
Take up photography documenting this season (like with portraits of your haircut deprived, now shaggier, male family members)?
What about pulling that guitar, fiddle or oboe out of the closet and you-tube lesson-ing it everyday for 30 minutes?
For those of us who are healthy, just sidelined, we could see this additional time as a gift. What will you do with it?
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