Love in the Time of Coronavirus

By Elizabeth Prata

The title of this essay is a take-off of the title of Nobel winning novelist's book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Love in the Time of Cholera."

Since we have been mandated to shelter in place, socially distance ourselves, or otherwise stay away from people due to the global pandemic of the coronavirus, people have been forced to express their love in different ways. We can't gather, we can't hug, we can't be in groups larger than 10, of those groups we must stay 6 feel apart, all this makes it hard to express love the way we are used to. Though, I'm not sad to lose the hugs. People in the south sure are 'huggy.'

Instead, families gather under balcony or outside nursing home windows to sing happy birthday or wave to their loved ones inside they cannot visit. Others leave treats and gifts outside a front door, to let the person know they are thinking of them. Others find an Amazon gift sent through the mail with a note a loving way to send support to someone they care about. We send encouraging notes and postcards through the US mail.

A global pandemic spurred panic buying. Some items at the grocery store or Big Box store have been hard to find. Shelves of these items have been continually empty or the limited supply meant that they run out fast. Inexplicably, toilet paper was the first items that stores ran out of and it has remained that way since. This item is hard to find. This item is totally necessary. Potatoes, carrots, and wipes have also been hard to find but one can substitute for those. There really is no substitute for TP. By the way, paper towels and Kleenexes have also been hard to find. Again, no TP? No substitute!

I had a knock on the door yesterday and I opened it to see a dear friend standing there. My friend works at a Big Box store. With arms full, I was presented with the following:

Now, in calmer times, if someone showed up at the door with a gift of toilet paper, I'd likely be thinking that the gift was a backhanded compliment? Or a symbol of our relationship? Or a prank gift? But love in the time of coronavirus means sharing a scarce commodity given generously to a friend.

Thank you!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are where you want to be. If you're not, I hope the peace of God fills your heart and you can make the best of it where you ended up...

My plans on this bright and sunny morning here in Georgia are to bake pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins and cook corn chowder. I received 4 ears of corn in my Bountiful Basket on Saturday and I'll use the freshly steamed corn for the soup. As for the muffins, I'll use an angel food cake mix along with the canned pumpkin for a lighter version.

I had to go to the Dollar Store for the corn chowder's milk and chips for the muffins. The bakery aisle at the store was pretty well wiped out. I got a slab of chocolate and thought to chunk that up to substitute for chips. I asked a clerk lady if the substitution would be acceptable and she said that there was a second bakery spot and we should check there for chips first. She was a very nice clerk. She was cheerful and happy and helpful. It is so nice to interact with people who are that way, even though she had every right to feel grumpy for working on this holiday. But not a hint of that, and she was service-oriented and kind. Kindness rubs off. Her lesson by action was to teach me that. I have to remember to be cheerful and kind because our attitudes affect people.

I'm almost done with my novel, "When Crickets Cry," and I don't know what I'll read next. I absolutely love turning away from the computer in the evening, sitting on the couch with no tv, no music, no noise at all, except the hiss of the gas heat, and read. It's so quiet I can hear my snuggling cats snuffling in their sleep. I've got a few novels on deck and also the John MacArthur book "Strange Fire" on the coffee table also. So, it will be something. There is no dearth of reading choices in this house.

For me will be a warm and quiet Christmas Eve. I hope yours is wonderful. Whether quiet and just the two of you, or loud and clamorous with the whole family, or in the desert sands in a war place, or stuck in holiday ice, I truly hope your holiday is wonderful, right where you are. It is a heart matter- celebrating love, given from the One who came down as a babe to establish love as possible and everlasting.

Life

Story of a relationship, told through Italian proverbs:

Love is quickly caught in the gentle heart.
A woman's fate is determined by the love she accepts.
Love is blind. Marriage restores one's vision.
Time is a great healer.
The end