It’s been seven months since COVID-19 invaded our lives, and not a day goes by where we continue to experience our lives through a twilight of suspension. The pandemic has affected our sense of time, our finances, our mental, and physical health. For many, confined to their homes, it has become hard to distinguish between Sunday and Monday, as each day blends into the next, and uncertainties govern our actions.

Still, our health providers, essential workers, police, and firefighters carry on, endangering their lives to save ours. Many have experienced financial loss, emotional and mental distress, illness, loss of loved ones, confusion, and uncertainty. Yet our hospitals and health providers are there for us through telemedicine or in-person appointments, for elective procedures, chronic pain, screening, cancer treatments, mental health crises, and emergency procedures that can’t wait.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Wasn’t it only yesterday when we prayed for the arrival of warm weather, hoping it would bring us comfort? Now October, with its brilliant colors, crisp apples, the aroma of cinnamon, and freshly fallen leaves, beckons us to reflect upon the beauty of the season and the flavors and experiences we enjoy.

Perhaps this season, as we sweep away the leaves, we can commit to sweeping away the clutter in our minds that distort our perceptions of truth, justice, kindness, and centuries of injustices and inequities that have injured others. I think the most important thing I’ve learned from the pandemic is how we are all inextricably connected. So, as we await a vaccine, let’s wear our masks, get a flu shot, and show up on election day to vote for what connects all of us.

Stay healthy. Stay Safe.

Annette