Have you noticed?
Have you noticed? We are spending more time with people we love, we talk more, we read more, we work more, we have dinner at normal times and breakfast together and lunch that lasts, we nap, we watch movies and listen to opera. We notice things: the birds singing and the first bloom in a cherry tree. We notice that we miss moments and people and places.
We love. We listen. We pause.
We care.
Have you noticed? I miss you.
Have you noticed? There is spring in the air and there is almost a year since the knock on the door. There is no hurt anymore. There is no pressure. There is love and light. The “missing” part is not a call for action. It is a statement. A fact, like spring is here and summer will be next and we are alive and we are terrified of this reality that is unprecedented.
Have you noticed? We learn more about ourselves when we are in hermit mode. Social distancing is a mirror. And the reflection I see is one I like and one that is enough. I am not perfect, nor are you, but I am enough. My heart has enough light in it to illuminate the world.
Have you noticed? I strangely enjoy this time, in which there is a return to structure. We cannot run anymore. Once upon a time the world could fit on an unfinished terrace of a house overlooking misty hills. Now I travel in my mind and I dream of beaches and cocktails and smiles. I dream of laughter and connection. I dream of hugs. Like Olaf. I like warm hugs. You don’t. Or maybe you just told you didn’t. But your hugs settled the mind. The force field was up.
Have you noticed? There is more music and more laughter. It feels like we had to be away to discover who we were. There are less masks. No makeup, no artifice. No high heels and no sophisticated looks. Just us. Primordial.
Have you noticed? There is silence. Not the kind that hurts, but the one that heals and settles.
Have you noticed? I am happy. I am grateful for the love I have in my life, for my parents and my family and my friends. The world is pausing, but I feel happy. Not in a hubris kind of way, but in a “carpe diem”. I have always been dihcotomic. Bipolar, you would say. I can be happy and miss you at the same time. I can speed in my mind and be grounded. I can have wings and roots and make the most of both.
Have you noticed? The sky is clear and spring is here.