As an Achiever (Clifton Strengths), reflecting on today I feel satisfied with all managed to do. I did some school work and connected with a few kids. I did some school related crafts....
Can you guess what these are? I’ll give you a clue - they’re molecules from the Gr 10 Life Sciences curriculum...
Then, at lunch, I got to eat some produce from my garden - YAY! - plus a delicious meal made by my husband. I spent the afternoon cleaning and sterilizing the kitchen so that I could then do some cooking for the ICU and general ward staff at Groote Schuur Hospital. (If you want to join in, most suburbs have a Community Action Network and many have a baking group. If you can’t find one for your own suburb, you can check out Pinelands CAN on Facebook for details and start your own for your own neighbourhood.) I should really have taken a photo of me in my cooking gear... including shower cap on my head to keep my hair out of my face! It was quite a palava, but so worth it. There’s no point in us doing the gratitude thing at 8pm as living in the leafy suburbs we are too far apart for anyone to hear our noise.... or at least, not in the way it would be in an apartment block. So I’m doing what I can to say thank you to them. It felt pretty awesome to hand over the mini-quiches I made to the driver this evening. (I just hope they taste OK!!)
Then, after supper, I have experimented with making a mielie meal dough (ahem! Not so much a dough as a patta-cake) which we made hand prints in, as a memento of our first week. As #1 said later: I don’t want a reminder of Lockdown! so there we go then. Thanks for nothing! As I type, it’s busy baking. If it turns out okay, once we’ve painted it, I’ll post a photo.
Thinking back over this past week, the kids and I have literally not left the house since last week Thursday. My super husband has always been the one to go out and do the essential shopping. It’s not so much the lack of contact, although even that is getting to me. (Zoom and Skype are great, but I miss seeing people in real life.) Rather, it’s that we’re not allowed to leave that is getting to me. At the best of times, I struggle with being told what to do. Even though I know that staying home is the best thing I can do to protect the most vulnerable, it’s hard.
Yesterday I opened our back gate, which opens directly onto the field adjacent to our house, and just stood in the gateway. Just having that open, and being able to stand there, felt like such freedom! Of course, the dogs thought we were going for a walk, so I didn’t stand there for long. Never the less, that small breath of freedom was intoxicating. Having the delivery of bags and labels for the food I was cooking today, and then the collection of said food, was exciting - new faces to talk to - and SUPER exciting for the dogs!
It is amazing to think how we took the small things for granted. Being able to walk out of our property - even just down the road - safely, without worrying about what we might come home with... Of course, those of us in the leafy suburbs have so much more to be grateful for - like the fact that we don’t have a shared outdoor toilet, that we have a garden space to walk around in safely, that (in general) we have jobs that continue to pay us a salary, that we can afford to buy food and that our cupboards are sufficiently stocked that we don’t really need to go out, or that we have a holiday home we were able to escape to before lockdown started - let alone that we have enough data/ WiFi access, or books on our shelves that we have only read once (or access to Kindle and Audible to download books), or board and card games in the cupboard, to keep ourselves endlessly entertained. Those of us who live in the leafy suburbs will survive this with some measure of ease, actually.
Although the lockdown is supposed to be protecting the most vunlerable, it is the most vulnerable who will end up paying the most when they lose their jobs and start to starve, or get sick. It is those who are alone and can’t get out to buy essentials, who have no-one to care for them who may suffer with mental health problems. Loneliness is a killer, literally, with more people dying from loneliness than the big 4 life-style diseases. These are the people who will really pay the price.
What does one say in view of all this? “I’m alright, Jack! Sorry for you”? Yet, there is also nothing I can do, practically, to change things at this point. So rather than focus on what I can’t do, I will focus on what I can. I can pray. I can make video calls to those who need it. I can cook and bake treats for our essential services and first responders. I can make the most of this time to get fit, so that I can keep healthy and not put further strain on our health system.
One week down, two to go (at least). Let’s focus on what we can do, and not get bogged down in the fear and anxiety that so often goes with being out of control. I tell you what, I’ll pray for you if you promise to pray for me. What do you say?
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