The Small Things
Yesterday while picking up coffee from the Starbucks drive-thru, quite accidentally the worker and I brushed hands when I was handed my coffee. It jolted my senses and other than for Covid sanitary reasons, I wondered why this stood out so much to me. Then I realized, other than one brief side hug to a friend a month ago, I have had zero physical contact with anyone other than my husband or immediate family for nine months.
NINE months!!!
When I was single, the lack of physical touch always gnawed at me as all humans need physical contact. So you think I would have gotten used to it. Nope. I never did. In all my 15 years of singleness, I never got used to the lack of human connection. And now, since March, most of us have forgone hugs, handshakes and pats on the back from people we know and love.
And yet…
And yet despite all the things we are missing because of Covid, these nine months have at times (at least for myself) accentuated other things I missed because I was so caught up in being busy and stressed out by life. L
ike the fall colors, I always thoroughly enjoy the fall colors but for some reason this year they seemed extra good. Maybe they actually were. Maybe I stopped longer this year to look at them. Maybe these fall colors were bright spots amid Covid-gray days and caused a deeper appreciation in me for the “smaller” things.
Like the smell of coffee in the morning.
Like the blue sky and fresh air.
Like the anticipation of the holiday season.
Like the sound of a fire crackling. Like snow on the ground…nope, sorry. Still can’t get behind that one.
While I can’t wait for Covid to be gone from this world, to hug my friends again, to sit next to my church family, to have a date night with my husband at our favorite restaurant, the “small” things are still there reminding us that this too shall pass.
That there are still good things happening all around us.
And that there is light at the end of this very long and dark tunnel.
