Patience. Love. Compassion. Being there for my husband through the good and the bad days.

This doesn’t seem to matter to me so much anymore as it used to. I just do my best to be a good person.

To ask continually, “How can I help?”

Patience. Sometimes my impatience gets in the way of being kind in the moment. I need to remember to stop, breathe, slow down and think before I say anything.

I am opening up to the many issues around social justice. As a white person, I am learning more about the day to day lives of people who are not privileged, and the fears and threats they experience daily. It is an important journey for me.

Barack Obama is my hero. He led our country for 8 years with dignity and intelligence, and compassion for all of us. I have his picture displayed prominently in my home and thank and bless him every day.

Being in quarantine forces me to be more present. No schedules to meet, chores to do in a certain timeframe, and no hard and fast goals to meet. It is surprisingly freeing. I have always been looking ahead to see what comes next, and this situation ensures I can’t see what’s coming next!

I live in Oregon, and our governor took early and decisive action to stop the spread of the Covid. We have have relatively few cases and way fewer deaths than many other states. I am grateful to Governor Brown and her staff for keeping Oregon safe.

My sister. She is always willing to help someone even if her resources are limited.

Freedom of time. No rushing about or worrying about what I need to do next. It is nice to just drift (for a while!)

I would say I have a LOT more time now than normal, and it feels very freeing to not have a tight schedule.

From my husband, who endures more pain than a human being should. He is quiet, kind and grateful in his daily life which soothes me, too.

Learning how to use Zoom more proficiently!

I met my husband at a meeting neither of us had planned to attend, but things conspired to get us there, and we both ended up at the same meeting. 32 years later we are still together!

Slow down. Breathe.

I am grateful for all the many blessings in my life. While this is a challenging time, I deal with it better because of the love of family and friends. I don’t feel so scared as I would if I were alone.

I have experienced something similar with a young family member. I find myself exhausted at times by the onslaught of terrible news, and I do not want to talk about it all the time. We live in the same home and I deeply respect his ideas, but it has also been important for me to set boundaries when I need to rest.

We have a family member that is far right conservative and a deep believer in conspiracy theories of all kinds. I often feel so frustrated with her that I want to write her off. But taking the time to look at her, as I did yesterday, with love and compassion opened my heart. I am going to try something new with her, which is to not engage in the futile attempt to change her mind, but just to keep letting her know we love her.

Yes they are truly awful. I hope it has passed by now.