Five Thoughts About Small Pleasures While Quarantined

Five thoughts about small pleasures while quarantined

Like most of you I’m spending a lot of time at home. In fact, I’m staying home more than I think I ever have in my whole entire lifetime with one exception; when I was pregnant with the twins my doctor put me on complete bed rest in October and I wasn’t allowed to get up until the second week in December….Grant and Russell were born December 26th.

While I’m not bedfast this time, I’m still cooped up at home. Who knows how long this will last? The way this thing is going the leaves could come out on the trees, turn colors, and fall off before we get freedom from COVID-19. I hope not, but it could be much longer than the wait we had for our twins.

What will life be like when this is over? I miss my children and grandchildren every bit as much as you, dear reader, miss yours. But I wonder, when this is over will we all go back to being too rushed for small pleasures? I hope not. I hope this experience makes us all wiser and more patient. I hope we will not just stop and smell the roses, but take the time to study and appreciate their beauty as well as their fragrance. I hope we will remember our neighbors and the small kindnesses we shared (along with a roll of toilet paper) during the quarantine.

Perhaps, you too, have re-discovered small pleasures that you haven’t had time for in the past. Here are a few of mine. I hope you will leave me a comment and let me know what small pleasures you have rediscovered while you are at home.

1. Reading. I’ve gone from one book to the next. I’m not keeping track of how many I’ve read but I’m sure enjoying them all. I reached out to my aunt and some of my reading friends for recommendations and they didn’t disappoint. When I was young I loved to read but marriage and babies pushed my reading habit aside. Now that I have the time I’m definitely loving this small pleasure. I’ll do a book review and share my finds with you in a post later this week.

2. Stillness. I don’t mind being alone. I never have. I like quiet and stillness. If the the boys leave the television on the minute they leave I turn it off. I can think better in the quiet. I can read my Bible and pray better with no sound. My thoughts and mind are clear as our pond on a bright summer day without noise to muddy my thoughts. If I’m outside I can hear the crickets and frogs: the songs of nature that go unheard if we don’t take the time to listen. (My husband will probably read this and ask, “Then why do you have to sleep with a box fan turned on high every night?” That’s white noise and it’s different. It blocks out other sounds so I can sleep. If that seems weird, so be it. I’m weird.)

3. I love my pets. I can’t imagine not having a dog, especially Cocker Spaniels. I love them so much that we have not one, but two Cockers and if one is a blessing, having two is a double blessing. Now that I’ve convinced you I love them I will tell you that being in the house with them all the time is challenging. First, they shed like crazy and even though I’m not a clean freak I don’t like dog hair in my soup or any other place so I keep the Shark vacuum going constantly. Second, they need exercise, so they make me exercise and boy, oh boy, are they strong! I bought one of those leashes that allows me to walk both of them at the same time and I jokingly say that instead of being “Jet propelled” down my driveway, I am “Pup propelled.”

4. Online dance class. I started going to an exercise class once or twice a week but found it difficult to motivate myself after working all day, so sometimes I skipped class. Since the quarantine my instructor (whose 30 to 40 years younger) does the class through FaceBook live and I love it! I can jump around, act crazy, dance and no one sees me! And if she does a dance that’s too hard for me I either modify it or take a bathroom break until she does something I can do. It’s fun and it’s good for me!

5. Online church. This is one of those things that I have mixed emotions about. I miss my brothers and sisters and miss being in the church building, but our minister is live streaming via Facebook and I’m watching with my husband and 3 of our children who live the closest to us. There is something intimate and tender about worshipping together on Sunday in a small group. It’s an unexpected and appreciated small pleasure. Not so long ago this wouldn’t have been a possibility. With the Internet we can stay connected to the outside world in our own homes.

These are just a few of the small pleasures I’ve experienced. I may share some more with you at a later date. Or I might do a post entitled “Small Disasters” about cooking, cleaning and non-stop dirty dishes. I feel pretty sure most of you could relate to that one as well!

Stay safe friends and take care of one another!