ONE YEAR AGO . . .

One year ago, you could say Life Was Under Construction.

A year ago at my house, I was in high gear trying to make room for my daughter's arrival. 

She was living at that time in Minneapolis--which was rapidly becoming an unsafe place to live. We decided the best arrangement was for her to move to Indiana and move in with me.

For a time, the garage was off limits to my vehicle--it had to live on the driveway while we arranged and rearranged, shifted and stored, and spent hours deciding what to keep, what to discard, what to donate . . . . You know the drill.

All this was going on in our lives. So was COVID. In fact, COVID had taken over everything: the news, the way we shopped, where we could go (or not), how we dressed (masks became de rigueur nearly everywhere), even how we greeted our neighbors (waves from across the street were okay, even shouting to be heard at a distance--close-ups were not).

And to top it off, practically every place I wanted to go was (a) closed; (b) open only at awkward hours; (c) open with difficult conditions to meet. 

I know you know all this--you lived through it, too, maybe worse than we did in our small city. 

So--one year later: businesses that survived are open again and serving customers in person. Mask-wearing is based on one's state of vaccination. Churches still request compliance with some of the former restrictions, at certain times, and for certain practices. 

And yet, things have changed, some of them for the foreseeable. Distance learning is common practice for all levels of schooling. Online church services make it easy for homebound folks (and ones who aren't ready yet to go out into the big wide world) to "attend" church. Committees can meet and actually see each other via the Internet--who knew technology could make that possible? Shopping for just about anything you can think of by phone or Internet is no longer a novelty--placing an order and then picking it up at the store or curbside--even having it delivered to your home or wherever--easy to do, costs a little, saves time.

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One year ago, I would never have thought we'd have all the new practices for learning, meeting in community, and shopping. Now--I wonder if they'll every go away. Perhaps not. Perhaps they shouldn't.

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To finish the original story--my daughter is fully integrated into this house, has her own space; some of her belongings now live in the attic and others in the garage, along with my stuff and the vehicle. 

She works full time at the Post Office and spends free time on various projects in and around our house, along with her own interests.

One year later, I have no wish for a different life. There's time for me to write, paint, make quilts and knit. I have companionship and help when I need it. As I listen to other people tell their stories, it's clear to me how blessed I am to be able to live in my own home.

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It's becoming clear that Life is always under construction--slower than our past year's pace, but it's always there. (We call it change and growl about it, but it's just Life, going about its natural way of doing things.) Why not stop growling and call it a blessing?

Any day can be a day to express gratitude--in fact, some people make a practice of daily gratitudes. Sounds good to me.