PANDEMICALLY SPEAKING- Look for the Helpers

 I walked to the post office over the weekend, and passed by the Kroger that- is -no -more. Made me sad.  I might feel sheepish and a little guilty missing a store, but I'm not the only one, so there.

Along my masked route,  I saw colorful signs of Spring! A deep blue sky, pink and yellow pollen swarming like teeny bees everywhere, landing on everything- cars, my glasses, my hair, shoes, creek water as I crossed over. These normal occurrences did not offer up any calm against my nagging knots of anxiety. The day looked perfectly beautiful, but a closer look told a different truth. Discarded gloves along the sidewalk, and masked stranger pedestrians, too far away to tell if they were moms or dads. They walked with caution, antennaes up.

I kept walking past open car dealerships, and a parking lot with a few friends laughing from their cars to each other. A line at the drive through Arbys. It was hard to see the odd changes around me. What kind of world are we living in right now? What is happening? Hitchcock thoughts took over. I shivered in the warm sunny day. I felt lost among the lost.  Scared among the scared.  Help!

I turned my gaze down and...... there they were. The reminders. The little helper reminders that nature is big, bigger, biggest and wise, and that all things start small, even nature's wonders. Reaching through cracks in the sidewalk were tiny green plants that were stretchhhhhhhing their stems and leaves and teeny blossoms up and into the world. When I walked past Kroger -that -is- no -more, the parking lot was also deserted and desolate, but there again were signs of life. Nature wants to live and grow, no matter what is coming at it. Nature releases her pollen to the wind so it will gently land everywhere so there are more chances for growth and blossoms and beauty. yes, sneezes happen, but still... On my way back home, I thought about those little helpers; seeing them had loosened those pesky knots and I remembered that sometimes it's the little things that remind us that hope stays with us, even when hidden by fear and scary bad things- abnormal times. Maybe these times, too, would eventually change back to normal- a teeny bit at a time.

I viewed things differently going home. I would say I viewed things through different lenses, but my lenses were still polleny, so.... Arbys is being a big helper serving drive through only-and  is protecting its employees and customers. The boisterous teenagers laughing from their cars are being bigger helpers because they want to stay safe so they can wreak havoc and have opportunities to do the things teens do that drive their parents and teachers nutz.  They want to keep those same folks safe, too. Masked strangers are trying to keep their distance from other masked strangers for the same reasons- safe us and safe them- and Nature tells us these bizarre days won't last forever, even though it may feel that way in this minute. Will we learn anything useful that will stick with us after? Hard to say. I know that I am learning a lot, and I hope some of it sticks like pollen on glasses.

The next time those knots twist and turn inside this old body, I hope I can remember that HUMAN nature is complicated, but Mother Nature is steady and simple, and I hope I will do as Mr. Rogers suggested and always look for the helpers, big or small, because they are out there.