Isolation Matters

Yesterday as I was couch-potato-ing, Cameron put his hand on my head and asked, “What happened to you?” I gave him a questioning glance, and he answered it with, “Your hair is MESSY!” Then I realized that I had not brushed my hair and had pulled it into a stubby ponytail. No make-up. No personal care whatsoever. That’s what isolation has done for me—a complete lapse in caring what I look like day by day. So, today I am dressed up with earrings and make-up. AND I feel perkier and more on-top-of-things. It was a good reminder that isolation and worry can be an excuse or an incentive. 

The COVID19 spike in Utah has sent a new kind of panic in our household. Haylee’s work closed down temporarily (Starbucks), and it sent us all into a bit of a funk. Being isolated leads to having nothing to look forward to. When they canceled our ward meeting this week because of the rise in cases here in West Valley, we realized once again that we need to renew our self-care and care of others for the unforeseeable future. I think we can do it with a little more faith, a little more cheer, and a little more awareness.

06.28.20

Today in America

Today in America

I have been meaning to write a post-TMM blog for weeks now, but I finally committed and put it on my to-do list for today. We have been trying to keep calm, have peace in our hearts, and live with hope in Christ for a resolution to some of today’s problems. A few weeks ago, when Jill was home-schooling Haylee on communism and socialism, we pulled out the old Disney movie NIGHT CROSSING. It is the story of two East-German families caught behind the oppression of the Iron Curtain in Berlin. The story is moving and inspiring as the families risk everything for the simple freedoms that we take for granted. . . until these last weeks. They were living in fear—fear of saying their true feelings, ideas, or opinions; fear of being pulled from their homes or put in prison; fear for the future of their children in a socialist regime; fear of losing their jobs and property. I’ve thought a lot about how I would have responded under such circumstances, and here we are today. Someone on Twitter said that we need to stop thinking about voting for or against a personality and start thinking about saving our country, America. This is an excellent video about how to look at what is happening today, and I hope you will listen:  https://youtu.be/zxLi-6RtmUQ  One of my favorite inspirational sayings goes something like this, “Not knowing is bad. Not wanting to know is worse.”

The Sunday before we left Laredo, we watched the BYU TV show FAMILY RULES. The subject was about positivity. I loved the segment featuring Hillary Weeks so much that I took this screen shot. It suggests that we make a family poster of all the positive things we do this summer. The segment was filmed before we were overcome by the pandemic or the riots or the isolation of a lockdown.  What a great way to make our homes and families remember all the great things in our lives!