Readers–what an awesome response I received to my call for guest bloggers! I’m thrilled and moved. I can’t wait to share these letters with you. Keep them coming, please. And because a lot of these guest bloggers are new, certainly new here, please speak up with comments if/when you read something that moves you, or you relate to. I cannot believe how much being understood, seen and heard and understood, helps in times like these. All the time, really, but especially now.
Letter number two is actually two letters, one short and one a little longer. Some of you may have seen these responses in the comments. I liked them so much that I wrote and asked permission to repost.
The first one is from my mother-in-law in Boston, who is over eighty. Her wisdom is palpable in these few words and I’m grateful to and for her. Bobbi, I love that you point out the bizarre contradiction in all of this.
It has reminded me of how insignificant each is in the big picture of things – and at the same time how significant all of us are in how we treat each other every day- wherever we are.
Don’t be afraid to “be who you are!” Be gentle, be kind, don’t be afraid to love.
This second letter is from a woman I admire for her energy, her interest in the world and her endless curiosity. We used to dance together (!) but these days I only run into her occasionally, on this blog and on the trail. Pam Poon, thank you so much for your honesty about fear and the reality of being an “at risk” person. I want to say I tried your exercise and it scared me witless. I hear you, I feel you and now my readers do too. Take good care.
What do I do when fear taps at the window?
Fear is a problem for me–I have a terrible fear of heights and of speed. I am therefore a bad skier, biker, skater, surfer, etc. I love caving, hiking (if not too close to the edge), Jazzercise, SCUBA diving, reading, cooking and choral singing.
I also have lung disease – too many chest infections. One pulmonary doc told me, “congratulations, you have the lungs of an 80 year old.” Another said, “are you sure you never mined asbestos?” I use a steroid inhaler twice a day and a “rescue” inhaler as needed, e.g., hiking uphill at altitude.
Unsurprisingly, my big COVID-19 fear is of getting the infection. Not being able to breathe is so awful-I have had a few attacks of severe wheezing during exercise when, oddly, I can’t breathe out. This means there is no space to breathe in. Try it – take a full breath and exhale only half of what you breathed in, then do it again, again, again and soon, you just can’t breathe. At all. I am afraid to die like that.
So in the wee hours, I sometimes wake suddenly with that fear. I breathe as quietly as I can, long, gentle breaths, as slowly in and out as I can. I try to breathe heaviness into places where my body touches the mattress and pillow, breathe heels, calves, buttocks, back, breathe head and shoulders. Breathe in peace, out love, in peace, out love. Then I sleep.
(sorry for the incoherence, this just poured out and It is too scary to edit right now. wishing you all health and safety.)
Both are Beautiful. There is a gentle frail hand holding us oh so still- but protecting us and connecting us all the same. Love you, Jenny Etgen
yes. thanks for the reply 😉
Bobbi urges us to “be who you are” because all of us have a meaningful connection as humans, even if that connection is not obvious or understood immediately by our feeble senses. Pam then tells us why we need to “be who we are” with each other: we are all of us vulnerable, and cannot get through this life alone.