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THE FOOTHILLS FOCUS | APRIL 8, 2020 TheFoothillsFocus.com | @TheFoothills.Focus Opinion

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AROUND THE BLUHMIN’ TOWN We are Home

BY JUDY BLUHM Foothills Focus Guest Columnist O ur calendar still has the dates, but the plans we made have been canceled. Work, weddings, classes, ballgames, trips, parties, luncheons, business meetings, dinner dates and concerts are all scratched out. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. This is not the April we wanted.

We had plans! Then the coronavirus showed up. So, we are in the wilderness of uncertainty. And worry. What will the future hold? Will we be OK? My veterinarian was tending to my sick horse, when he pointed out that “animals have the beautiful ability to live in the moment.” Humans, not so much.

We are intelligent. And intelligent people think, worry, plan, analyze, compare, create, reason, reminisce and wonder. How can we “live in the moment” when we have things to do and places to go? We don’t like being “forced” to stay home. Boredom could set in, fears might flare, disappointment occurs when we start to think about what we have lost.

What will isolation bring? When the Great Plague of London was going around in 1665, Cambridge University shut down and Isaac Newton was forced to stay at home. While sitting in his garden, he saw an apple fall from a tree, which inspired his understanding of gravity. From the solitude of his home he invented calculus, parts of optic theory and the laws of motion.

We are resilient. Today, someone is writing a best-selling book, a musician is composing a symphony, an artist is painting a masterpiece and a scientist is discovering a vaccine for this virus. The innovation and creativity never cease. Perhaps when we are asked to pause our usual activities, and take a forced break, something extraordinary happens.

Oh, how we long to see the faces of everyone again! We want to handshake and hug! Now we are looking through the glass of the nursing home’s window so that we can see our parent. We must wave from afar to our neighbor, or dash quickly and quietly into the grocery store, only to see the worried faces of our neighbors. We are saddened for the kids who will have no birthday parties and for graduates who might be unable to have commencement. We miss our small business owners and workers, who have been crushed by this pandemic. Mostly, we miss our old life. The way it was.

We live in gratitude to all the doctors, nurses, first responders and caregivers who are still there, pushing themselves to the brink for us. How can we ever thank the grocery clerks and baggers who fearlessly and tirelessly keep going so we can buy food and toilet paper?

Teachers, where art thou? As the nation home schools, our respect and gratitude grow daily. Our kids need you. For all those who keep working, creating, inventing, painting, singing and helping, we are encouraged by your efforts. To the businesses that we love and appreciate, you have always been “essential” to us. And one fine day, we will all be back “out and about.” Enjoying each other, laughing, hugging and handshaking. No social distancing required. Now, that’s something to write in our calendars.

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