It’s hard to describe. I look at the calendar and I see today’s date. These days, today is all I’m sure of, when I consider time. I have trouble remembering when things happened. I guess in this time of Covid we all are wondering when, and even if things are going to change. Do you feel the same way I do? I guess I could start blaming things on my age, but I wonder about all kinds of things that have to do with time. The biggest thing is the “when?”
I’m glad Clarence has a datebook in his phone. He seems to be able to tap it a few times and up comes a list. Every appointment in that datebook is in that list. Most of the time my appointments appear there too. So this week I said: “Honey I can’t remember WHEN my surgery was.”… It had been postponed three times, I couldn’t even remember which month it was in. In reply the dear man tapped his phone, and told me it was October 29th. That made sense. I remembered Axel’s birthday was October 24th and I stayed with the other kids that night. So his arrival had to have been before the surgery, or a long time after. That’s a lot of figuring out.
Speaking of Axel: All of a sudden I’m seeing my youngest grandson crawling and trying to pull himself up on things? WHEN did he get this big?
WHEN did my friend Jamie pass away? I was there when they put her in the ambulance for the last time… it was sometime last summer. WHEN did my brother find out his cancer wasn’t terminal like the oncologist originally told him? Sometime since COVID came. I remember WHEN my friend Elizabeth had her last treatment. That was this past Wednesday ( Month: June. Date….not so sure.) She’s been without cancer in her body for a year (at least I think that’s how long it’s been). Now all the preventative stuff is finished.
I do remember clearly the day my brother-in-law Teddy died. February 21. It was Claire’s ninth birthday. The phone call – So unexpected – So far away – Wanting to be there with our family. We still wonder WHEN we will be able to travel north. WHEN we’ll be able to give hugs to Deanna and Kelly, his other siblings, and Aunt Rosie.
Time moves on. Memories are made that we don’t get to experience in person. Things happened a day ago, a month ago, or a year ago. Time has flown and time has stood still. WHEN will we get back to normal? I guess if we’re honest, WHEN we get there we’ll admit that normal isn’t going to look anything like it used to.
This week things look a little brighter when it comes to Covid restrictions. We haven’t been terribly put out by Covid at our house. I’m thankful that we have stayed healthy. We’ve gone to church online. Clarence was able get to The Barn and also meet a couple times each week with others at the church for Bible Study and prayer meeting. Not this past two weeks though. Our church was shut down, not because of Covid. A very flammable gas came bubbling up in the basement of a business in downtown Wheatley. Some people had to evacuate from their homes. The church is right on the border of the evacuated area and the reason it was locked up was because the utilities had to be turned off. I think the hydro went back on today… or yesterday.
Have you been patient as we’ve endured a pandemic? I can tell you I’ve had my times when I thought the “WHEN” was way too long in coming. Usually though I haven’t complained. I’ve learned in my life to trust the Lord. In the good. In the bad. When I understand and when I don’t.
I’m glad that He gives us this promise in the book of Isaiah: ” They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” I’ll run with that. Note to self: Don’t forget to wait.
Update on the novel: Waiting for my proof copy. Trying to be patient …………………..
Janet Weiler 