A web of support

I was hoping to venture out and do my weekly shop this morning, regular readers here will know that I am a menu planner so my shopping lists are based on the bits I need to cook those meals.  Whilst I was sitting writing my list last night it occurred to me that maybe some of the shops I usually visit, the small independent food shops, might not be open any more as social distancing would be quite difficult to achieve once inside.  It turns out they are open, but you need to phone through an order and pick it up the following day.  It is wonderful that they have found a way to stay open and keep themselves safe by reducing contact with their customers.  My shopping has been put back by a day.

I found the information I needed on Facebook with which I have a bit of a love-hate relationship.  I joined to keep up with home education groups and events, it appears I might have to start using it in a different way, starting with liking local shops so that I can keep up with what it going on.  Its facility for video calls and that of other social media sites has been a lifeline for us, particularly Alice, and will continue to be for the weeks to come.  I have managed to organise for her to have video play dates with her friends on most afternoons of this week.

My regular weekly shop is an important part of my week, I love to visit the small independent shops, chat to the staff that are there week after week.  They have watched my children grow, ask how they are doing.  It feels strange that that will no longer be possible.

We are a social species, isolating ourselves is tough.

The physical connections we have with people is only one part of our connection to the people in our lives, we can learn from nature which builds amazing, often symbiotic, relationships to continue our connections to those people that are important to us, without seeing them on a regular basis.  Perhaps they will change and become better, deeper as we find the time that we perhaps haven't had in the past, wouldn't that be a wonderful consequence.   If we look out for a few people, if they too do the same, we can build a web of support which we are all part of, all of us integrated into a vast network.

I have read this week about the important of connection though blogging, words which I totally agreed with.  I had thought with so much of what I do not happening any more I would have more time for posting on here but that hasn't been the case just yet.  I don't seem to be any less busy, which is somewhat baffling but I will save that for another post.

In the meantime I do hope that you have found ways to lessen your isolation despite being isolated.

Nurturing Sanctuary

As I sit here on a Saturday evening listening to Storm Ciara strutting her stuff outside, I know that the decision we all made last night to cancel our plans, in the only half an hour we had together, was the right one.  At the end of a week of days full of doing, an afternoon and evening of rest is what we all needed.

We have been ships passing in the night this week my husband and I, picking him up from work one evening gave us a rare half an hour together.  Although some days it didn't feel like it would, everything slotted together like a jigsaw by focusing on what needed to be done rather than whether it would be possible, several mornings I was preparing our tea/evening meal at 9am.  I stifled yawn after yawn driving Cameron to meet a friend for a few hours of mountain biking, we were running late, unsurprisingly,  as my brain had pretty much run out of space at this point in the week.  I surprised myself by being unfazed by this we are rarely the ones who are late, it was our turn.  The wide blue skies made the journey a whole lot easier, whilst Cameron was riding I would walk, the sunshine made the thought of this appealing despite my tiredness.

Running through my week like a ribbon through my life has been the moments spent with friends sharing words and time.  Words that have enveloped me like a warm hug as my brain was struggling to process a really difficult and long meeting I sat through one night.  Words, unsolicited, that have eased my worries.  Time that has helped things to stand still for a pause until movement is necessary again.  The connections I have in my life to people, to places have carried me through.  It bought me back to some words that I heard on a podcast, about the importance of nurturing these connections and by doing so creating places of sanctuary, protecting, looking out for and after each other, places where we feel safe.   Those difficult moments that have punctuated this week have been easier to bear, less of a burden to carry around.

As the storm rages outside, my home is my sanctuary from the weather, keeping us warm and safe.  I am really grateful to have such a place, as I have been grateful for the sanctuary of the people and places in my life this week.  Storm Ciara is hanging around on Sunday, we shall be resting at home, recharging and resetting our batteries preparing ourselves for the week ahead.

I hope you have sanctuaries in your life too?