As I’m writing this, we are in the middle of a “Stay Home Order” that was given by Governor Herbert. My family has been “self-quarantining” for weeks leading up to this, because I’m almost six months pregnant, so we’ve already been taking precautions for a while. Even though the world is in shambles right now, and there is so much fear circling the world, this whole thing has taught me two lessons: there is so much GOOD in this world and there are very SIMPLE ways of showing others that you care about them.
We have had many surprises that have shown up on our front porch over the last few weeks that have helped to make this all a bit easier. The first surprise was a grocery bag full of lemonade packets, dove chocolates, and a bottle of soap. The second surprise was a sweet neighbor who dropped off some baby wipes that she knew I needed. The other day, I had a sweet 15-year-old girl in my neighborhood drop off a portrait of my family that she had painted herself with a sweet note.
The other several surprises have been for my 4-year-old daughter. She’s had a friend tape a drawing to our front door, a friend leave a hand-drawn note with a little package of goldfish crackers, and another friend leave a grocery bag with candy bars and a small stuffed animal. My mother-in-law has surprised my daughters with shipments of bracelets, new toys, a box of goldfish crackers, and new books. My daughter’s primary teachers drove by the house in a line of honking cars and gave her some fruit snacks.
My girls have benefited from the meals made by the Box Elder School District and it is their favorite part of the day. We have also picked up free drive-through style flowers from Bowcutt’s Floral on a day they were handing out flowers to lift spirits. We’ve had several people ask us if we needed anything, and my mom has picked up diapers, wipes, flour, and more for us when she sees it at the store since I’m not currently taking my kids to the store.
I honestly can’t think of a time in my life that I have ever felt so cared for and checked up on by friends, family, and neighbors. This time has been eye-opening to see others reach out and help each other. This is not to say I haven’t had plenty of mini-freak-outs; however, I’ve decided that no matter how many stories I read, or how much I panic, nothing is going to change in my daily life – we are still going to stay home and try to stay healthy.
If there’s one big lesson I’ve learned through this whole thing, it’s that it doesn’t take something grandiose to show people that you care. Sometimes I feel like I need to spend more money for someone to “care” or I need to know what their favorite candy is so they don’t hate the one I choose, but this has taught me that it really is the thought that counts. I’m glad I’ve learned this lesson to remind me not to overthink gestures and to just do them! Never put off a generous thought!
Life is much easier, especially “quarantine life,” when we’re all in it together.
Published in The Tremonton Leader in April 2020
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