Singing Still, in a Strange Land

We have been under lockdown here in Toronto for 48 days now. The days are settling into a kind of routine - we are up at about 9, have some coffee and a long talk about how COVID-19 is moving around the world. We both have work to do, and Zoom meetings galore. We spend most of the afternoons working, and then move to the basement family room for dinner and watch some TV together, often with a bottle of wine. I've ordered "Hello Fresh" dinners for some nights, and tried to find new and interesting recipes for other nights, and there has been plenty of baking. My husband is planning fall classes, and doing taxes. I am applying for Canada Pension, doing taxes, and organising immigration paperwork for study in Iceland in the fall. There is volunteer work from home, and art classes - books to read, too.

The hardest parts in this self-isolation have been that our trips overseas have been cancelled, and that we cannot spend time with our grandchildren. We have worked on the theory that we have likely been exposed, and don't want to risk our grandchildren's health - who knows who is a carrier of this virus?

But the days go on, and the weather improves, and instead of trip planning, we plan a garden. We have been able to get outside for a change, without jackets and boots and gloves. Flowers are blooming, trees are coming into bud, new life is all around us. The robin sings early in the morning before dawn - a cheery and melodic song for life, for today.

Many, though, have lost loved ones,  - and have been even unable to travel for a funeral. Many have lost someone to this virus. Eventually all of us will be touched by it in some way. We feel like slaves, forced into exile in a strange place. So we lament - lost lives, lost freedoms, lost opportunities. Lament. Something we must do....

....and although this is not my theological language, I use it here. Life has been completely changed - it won't go back to the way it was. How do we continue to sing a song of life, here in this strange land?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FgDles4xq8

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