Monday, March 16, 2020

Normal








Normal will be difficult to experience for a while.

Still, anything that we can find normal about our lives will help, especially the little things that make up each day.

I remember so vividly after our house burned down in the 1980s how my classroom and students at school helped me work through all the insanity that was happening in our family's lives at the time.  

Being in a classroom, teaching what I knew best, especially with classes filled with kids I loved, was comforting each day because I knew that almost the instant I left school, all the stresses of putting our lives back together would be staring me in the face and weighting me down. 

Obviously, for me these days, there's no classroom. 

 Different norms make up my life as a retiree.   As the days of unknown unfold, I'll be paying closer attention to and welcoming the sight of the squirrel outside our window or the sounds of our resident crows carrying on all day about Lord knows what in their different languages.

This morning I would offer another outlet for folks who are wondering what the heck they're going to do all day if stuck at home.  

This is an historic time, unlike anything I can ever remember in my 72-plus years. 

Yesterday, I posted an article about Gunnison, Colo., and what the town did to keep the Spanish flu from afflicting its residents, back in 1918. 

Whoever wrote the article relied upon local historical accounts of the times.  The author also lamented not being able to find out what the residents of Gunnison, Colo., did while dealing with what had to be severe cases of cabin fever.  

No accounts were available. 

Seems like in these times, anyone with access to a computer could spend some of that free time, journaling OR, as we call it in these days, blogging. 

Blogging serves as both an outlet and a support system for me, every single day.  So it is natural.  I don't think I've ever revealed that often the upbeat items I share on my blog help me as much as they help my readers. 

So, consider writing/documenting your individual or collective stories.  

One hundred years from now, someone writing a story about an upcoming worldwide event might just find what you have to say as fascinating. 

Happy Monday. Look for the norms and let them make your day. 





Richard A. Aspell
7 hrs
Peace Corps update. Beware the Ides of March. All PC volunteers worldwide are to evacuate and return to the United States. It is temporary and we are told we will be allowed to return to service when the pandemic abates.

Et tu, Corona


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All over Spain, residents in lockdown at their homes collectively cheered and applauded in support of health workers on the front line of the coronavirus outbreak cbsn.ws/2UaValB


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Vatican Media photos of #PopeFrancis walking down Via del Corso (Piazza Venezia bend him) to the Church of Marcello where he prayed before its famous crucifix.





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