Corona Virus Trail, Day 7 – Seven Wins for the Week

The thoughtful GratiDUDE blogger on Medium, a lovely man in my writer’s group, and his focus on gratefulness as a cleansing life path reminds us that any journey can bring joy, even mine in parenting twin special needs young men through these challenged times. As the sun shone on Day 7, I reveled in the gains of the past week – tender green shoots of better living.

1). It’s spring, and everything’s growing. When “hiker stay home” sentiment thwarted my plans for a trip to the mountains – multiple doctors stressed the lack of capacity in the two White Mountains hospitals, given the area’s already outsized Coronavirus incidence – we made our own Dunkin Trail. Amazingly it was only 2.7 miles/5.4 miles round trip to cold cubes of reward. The forsythia were blooming, we added variety beyond our usual 2.4 mile circuit, and my guys did fabulously walking the sidewalk along a busy town road. The success opened the door, or maybe just my mind, to other local walks we can take to take-out/don’t eat in facilities with bathrooms (the latter being a linchpin for us).

2) My guys have strengths – lots of them. From where they stand on more profoundly affected end of the autism spectrum, Will and Jeff actually are quite patient and wait with more patience than most typical kids. Being a identical surely honed this; someone else was usually demanding Mom at the same nanosecond. Thankfully the skill remains. As I groggy-woke today across the house from yet another essential nap given my nighttime sleep problems, I heard the hubby reading to Will, as Jeff sat nearby in his favorite chair – the one with the pillow saying Family.

3) Practice brings progress. It’s only been a week and tiny buds of improvement are emerging in the five ADL goals I set last week. Wow!

4) We’re given raw materials, if we see them. Our daily walk on the 2.4 mile circuit near our home passes our church, which is open til noon. I’ve visited every day, soaking in the quiet, making the boys recite the Our Father, and remembering the spiritual foundation that sustains me more than anyone knows.

5) It’s OK to be a mess. Sadly I don’t live in an Andover house with an Andover life, though my perfectionism tells me I should. I’m struggling to complete essential work while faithful to my more important role as Life Skills Director for two men with next to zero respite help given the hubby’s illness. But Coronavirus has inspired both greater disinfection and neatening – and acceptance that it will work out.

6) We have abundance – in my overflowing La-Z-Susan pantry cabinet, in kinds neighbors and and friends, in eyes newly widened to experience the best of this ridiculous time.

7) We’re an incredibly family. There is no one else I’d want to hold my hands on this journey, with Will and Jeff astride, Jenn at my heart, and Paul at my back. There is nothing, nothing we cannot do.