Chapter 2 Post 8 ▫️ Home is where we find a way

Day 48, and light begins to break from the end of the tunnel. Quarantine restrictions are beginning to lighten up around the country and around the world. It’s up to us to be as safe as we can and to balance our priorities. We can do this! 

The quarantine has been difficult. There’s no two ways about that. But it’s also been enlightening. One thing I’ve learned is that when we are confronted with challenges, we find a way. When the government ordered a shelter in place, many of us were cut off from family and friends; work and school; community and society. We’ve had to find work-arounds. We can’t visit people in person, but we can call and video chat. We can’t go the office or the campus, but maybe we can work or learn from home. Maybe our jobs are nonexistent and we’ve had to find other ways to care for our needs, or others have come to our aid. We can’t go out and about in town, but we’ve focused on what we can do to find the education, entertainment, and interaction that we used to get outside of our own homes. It’s inspiring to think of all the ways that we have found to live, work, and play in a world that so quickly became something so different. 

We don’t have to love the circumstances to love what we can do within their confines. And I believe that’s true even outside the realm of this pandemic. Before we had ever heard of COVID-19, we each had circumstances that may have challenged us in one way or another, and we had to find work-arounds. We may have even been in the process of adjusting when we were forced to shift our focus, and our lives, in other directions. It’s possible that after the quarantine lifts, there will still be restrictions on the way we carry on our lives, and that more adjustments will be necessary. Will we love those new circumstances? We can’t know yet. Will we love what we do within those circumstances? That’s up to us. Art, home, even we ourselves can find a way.

So it seems fitting now, as the quarantine comes to a close in some places, that this chapter of Live.Learn.Blog comes to a close as well. It’s a fitting parallel that the condition that would force us to remain at home would be the opportunity to examine home and not just what it means, but what it will mean to us in the future. Through this rough month, I’ve also tried to identify and understand the place art holds in my world, and how it connects to my definition of home. When I was frustrated and at the point of giving it all up—this blog, writing, my search for understanding and sense of home—I realized that there is a place for all of it, and that there is no set time limit to figure it all out . When I finally relaxed and let those pursuits take a back seat for a little while, I realized that the back seat is the proper place for them. They’re still in the car, and the trip wouldn’t be complete without them; they’re just too small to be sitting up in the front seat.

Before I close, I just have to thank each and every one of you for being here. I’ve definitely felt your support and I’ve appreciated all the feedback, whether you’ve left it on this blog or delivered it to me personally. Honestly, and quite literally, without you this blog would not exist. This chapter about home was challenging, and all of the comments from others facing similar challenges have been a real source of camaraderie and comfort. I can only hope that your journeys to home are making headway too, and I hope to hear about your insights and experiences along the way. We are on this road together, no matter our circumstances, and the feelings of togetherness, solidarity, and support all make me feel a little more at home. 

I hope you feel that way too.