Oh, my goodness. A new post! Seems I haven't had anything to say, or share at least, for quite some time. So, catching up quickly: it is now Spring of 2021, we have a new president in the White House, and about 20% of the population has been vaccinated against Covid-19. Never thought that this is what life would look like when I wrote the last blog. How are you doing? How's your mental outlook? Seems like most people are either pissed, scared, depressed, numb, or a combination of all these. I feel like I have been treading water, waiting for a break in something...maybe a change in the weather, or my work, or for the vaccine to arrive. The days have had a kind of gray sameness; just a chain of time periods to be endured. But there does finally seem to be some light creeping in, lately. The Spring has debuted, with its jonquils first, then Bradford Pear blooms (lovely, but that stinky fragrance--yuk!), and now my favorite, the Redbuds. Dogwood flowers beginning now, as well. Spring in VA is so tender. And lovely! But it seems hard to really engage with this beauty. Kinda like I'm seeing it through a smeary window. Real interaction with the world seems impossible, or even worse--pointless. It feels like I've been wrapped in gauze forever, and it's just too much effort to emerge. And it's also a vulnerable thing, this emergence. Feels dangerous. How do we get back to engagement? How do we re-engage with the world, life, each other? Is it time to try? Is it too dangerous? Is it worth the effort? Well, I'm not super sure if it's time. And it probably is dangerous. But worth the effort? Yes. Somehow we need to reestablish connection. It can be cautious; it probably should be. But it needs to happen. Somehow we need to reach out a hand to Life. And clean that window. And then we need to find a way to reach out to each other. Because no matter how much we may want to stay safe, wrapped up and protected, we don't live that way. We die that way.