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When were you last out in the world in a pre-COVID way? When did you last feel that everything was more or less okay? When were you last unafraid?
For me, it was March 10, 2020. That’s the day I last met a friend at a coffeeshop and hugged her hello and goodbye. That’s the day that I retreated into the cocoon of my house where I set out to compulsively and comprehensively wipe down doorknobs, appliances, drawer pulls, light switches, and groceries. Avery had been home from college for two days for a Spring Break that would become two weeks then turn into an entire virtual semester. Sawyer would come home a week later and spend the second half of March quarantining in his bedroom. A week after Sawyer came home, my mother would announce that she was going to the grocery store – rules and warnings be damned – because she just needed to see more humans. And that would kick off our daily coffee hour – just me and her, every weekday morning – which is a silver lining in a time that has been incredibly challenging, and something that will survive the pandemic as part of our new normal.
Each of us is hitting these milestones. I’d like to join you in commemorating that, whatever it may mean for you. You may have suffered a profound loss. You may be struggling. You may be relatively okay. You may have learned a whole lot about what matters most to you. I’d like to hear your stories. So, please join me on March 10, 11:30 a.m. PST – my “Pandemiversary” – where I’ll create and hold space for each of us to share a tale. We’ll bathe in the knowledge that through listening to each others’ stories we are less alone. We'll feel supported. We'll conclude with affirmations of strength and optimism for the path forward.
In the meantime, I want to offer you a beautiful video collage of artists singing one of my all-time favorite songs: “Wanting Memories” by Ysaye Barnwell which I first heard sung by an a cappella group at Stanford called Talisman.
The song opens with haunting ache:
I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me,
To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes.
I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me,
To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes.
You used to rock me in the cradle of your arms,
You said you'd hold me till the pains of life were gone.
You said you'd comfort me in times like these and now I need you,
Now I need you, and you are gone.
But it evolves to a place of satisfying gratitude for what IS.
I know a please a thank you and a smile will take me far,
I know that I am you and you are me and we are one,
I know that who I am is numbered in each grain of sand,
I know that I've been blessed again, and over again.
If “Wanting Memories” sounds like your cup of tea, or you just love terrific harmony and lyrics, or you’re astounded at how musicians have managed to come together over and over again in this pandemic to beat the technological odds and compose an audio collage, take a listen. And please, if a bit of sharing and listening about this year alone together sounds good to you, do join me on March 10.
As ever,
xo
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