The Pandemic of 2020

As I start this – I want to express my emotions, but they are all over the place these days! I’m mad; I’m sad; I’m angry; I’m frustrated, but yet I’m still grateful! I’m sure you all can basically understand my first negative emotions, but let me clarify my gratefulness- this year is the final year to have my child at home with me. Time was moving so quickly, I was devastated at the loss I felt of losing her to her own freedoms. A loss that every mother feels when their baby turns 18 and graduates! This year though God gave us a Hard pause – a few precious moments to spend quality time to reconnect before she ventured on to her future! I’m Angry because she is losing these last precious months with her friends, her classmates, her teachers and the chance to walk the halls one last time! I’m mad because she has to miss all the milestones we took for granted – Senior Prom, Grad Night, Senior awards and her school’s celebration Senior Walk! I’m frustrated because there is nothing I or anyone else can do to ease the pain for the Class of 2020! Their pain and their grief is real, but I see the resilience in their eyes and in their hearts – They know things could be much worse! They are wise beyond their years; they suffer this loss with grace and confidence that hasn’t been witnessed in generations before! My teen who cries over her loss reminds herself, these are just things – there is so much more to be grateful for! In a time when nothing is more certain than change – Love is the most valuable commodity. We are All learning a valuable lesson of love. We have found a new appreciation of love for ourselves and love for our neighbors! These children have found a Love for themselves; love for their friends; love for a life they miss! In the very near future, I see them spending more time with others and less time on their ‘gadgets’. They have a new found appreciation for human connection – for love! This pandemic will end just as the one faced in 1918 (the Spanish flu), but hopefully we will all come out the other side a little wiser, a little stronger, and more resilient than ever before!