9:00AM
The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and spring is arriving. Today is May. We spent all of April in our houses on lockdown, doing our best to try to help keep ourselves and our neighbors safe. Now May is here and I hope we stay safe.
With the weather warming up here in Michigan, I imagine many of us will want to go out—it’s easy to stay locked up when it’s cold and dreary outside. I can see us wanting to go to parks, hang out with friends, play sports, go on boats, and do many of the Michigan spring/summer activities. I mean, here in Michigan we typically only get maybe 3-5 months of weather where we want to be outside. If you’re a person who doesn’t like extreme heat, then it’s really just maybe May, June (maybe) and September. Other than that, it’s can be too hot or too cold. I personally love the heat, so June, July, and August bring me so much warmth, physically and spiritually.
I keep reading things from good friends of mine saying that they’re going to protest the stay-at-home orders and I at first glance, I feel angry. I want to shout at them that the problem is not the stay-at-home orders, the problem is that we don’t have testing and tracing to open back up again. Right now, I pause and realize these people may be experiencing a level of stress that I can’t imagine. While I’ve grown used to staying at home with my parents and even though I’ve not always felt very present being here, I’ve felt safe. I can imagine there are so many out there who don’t feel safe at home, or worse, feel endangered. That these people don’t have an escape, don’t have a way to flee the conflict at home, are afraid they might escalate it, and don’t know how to resolve it. I want to hear more of these stories so I can better feel it.
I think of my friend who fled her husband and left behind her three or four kids because he threatened to kill her. I think of friends who have been raped. I think of friends who have spouses who berate them and blame everything on them. I think of all of the pain that is happening and how little I know about it.
I want us to open up again. I want us to open up physically and I want us to open up emotionally. I fear it and I’m sure many others do as well. I don’t like feeling open when the other person isn’t. I fear the power in us both being open. And yet I’ve seen baring our souls and opening our hearts to one another can be the fastest way to resolve conflict, bring us closer together, and help us solve the problems in the world.
Here’s to opening up.
9:10AM
