As I write —or to be correct, dictate —this, we are still in lockdown because of COVID-19 and facing more challenges than most of our generations have ever known.
Because I’ve been home since the end of January with my broken arm, my perspective is different. I’m not masked, standing in line at a grocery store. I’m not driving on the streets to get there, seeing all the closed businesses. My town, Wrightsville Beach, has had more street traffic and pedestrian traffic than I would prefer. It seems like a lot of people are ignoring the stay-at-home order, putting others at risk. All the same, my days are pretty simple: pain avoidance and healing. It’s been surprising what one can do with only one arm. Every few days somebody brings me food and leaves it on my porch. (Today it was savory wings from The Fresh Market. My gratitude to The Fresh Market and those who bring me the food knows no bounds.)Regardless of the plentiful challenges, I am quite optimistic that soon businesses will be open and the economy will boom again. As I said last month, quoting Solomon, the wisest and richest man in history: this too shall pass.They’ve gone back into the archives to pull a photo of me in Susan Warwick’s bee farm from September 2015. It was a memorable day. Allison Potter and I started it terrified of the buzzing bees, but by the end, I was practically sprawled on a beehive, laughing for all the world to see.And that’s my analogy for where we all are in life right now: If you don’t panic, but stay calm, keep looking up and trust in what you know, you’re not going to get stung.It’s spring on the coast of North Carolina, my favorite time of the year, virus or no virus.Hopefully the next time you see me we will be on the other side of this. My wish for you until then is peace, love and joy.