Carpe Diem

There is no doubt that 2020 will be a year of infamy. So many changes for so many people on so many levels.  And, I am not just speaking about the science behind a novelle virus, although that may have been the impetus, I am referring to the way it has affected so many facets of our lives and our world. The prevalence of uncertainty, fear, worry, division and anxiety are emotions that seem to dominate our society today. We are unsettled and uncertain and everything seems so much harder as this time  presents situations we are unfamiliar with. It is easy to get caught up in all the emotions. For me, I have found a silver lining in this craziness. Remembering to perfect the skill of seizing the day…

Like so many others, most of our plans were altered this year. We had a beautiful and extensive year of travel and special family events planned. Tom and I had planned a walkabout in March that we had to cancel days before we left due to the shelter in place. Our family was to return to the old country, Lebanon, where we were to connect with relatives we had only begun to correspond with and had hoped to piece together the pieces of our ancestry. I have longed and planned for this trip for several years. A medical mission to the South Pacific with our daughter and her family was on the docket as we realized that this opportunity to be with them as a family might not arise again with the ever-changing schedules of teenagers. Then, our fall sabbatical. We had hoped to recapture some of what we had lost last year by meandering through France and the World War II sites. We were to meet some friends in Venice and take a wonderful cruise on a small ship sailing through Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Malta, and Sicily for a couple of weeks. Everything had changed.

I found my time spent sheltered in place to be very thought provoking and I realized I could live without a lot of things. It was spring and I found great joy in the season of  rebirth and regrowth as I worked in the soil  and did some woodworking projects. I walked and read and I began to paint with watercolors. And, I had time to contemplate life, as I have known it. I am not a stranger to the moments that can change life and as I caught my breath I began to remember seize the day. While things were not exactly as I had hoped or planned, I still had this moment and I didn’t want to miss any of it.

So we begin our fall 2020 sabbatical a little differently then we had expected. We are travelling the USA in a Winnebago. We are off to see our granddaughter get married in Idaho and then on to visit our friends and family in the Pacific Northwest for a while. We will meander for a bit and then connect with our friends next month. Our gypsy hearts will prevail as we meander our own country for the next several weeks. We have decided to seize and enjoy the days we are in.

CARPE DIEM!