Day of Hope #88

Monday April 13 – Day of Hope #88

Goal: Journal, walk, and avoid the global pandemic

Quote: “We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.” – Cecil Day-Lewis

I spent the entire day at Ann Morrison Park, walking along the Boise River and journaling under the trees. It was peaceful, but the world around me was anything but peaceful.

We were living through something historic. The COVID-19 pandemic had fully reached Boise. The city had been shut down for a month, and closures were spreading across the country. It felt like everything had changed in the blink of an eye.

There were whispers of slow reopening, some churches and retail stores were set to allow limited access the following Friday, with strict six-foot distancing and face masks required. But hotels, salons, and spas remained closed. Bars and restaurants weren’t expected to reopen until June. It was surreal. I had never experienced anything like this in my lifetime.

At work, we had shifted to virtual meetings. Everyone was scrambling to figure out how to run businesses remotely. All parents of young children were now at home trying to do video calls with kids in the background. I took my granddaughter when I could to try to help my daughter out. Courts were backlogged or closed. Even doctor visits had moved online. Everything was being reimagined, digitized, and distanced.

The only thing left that felt open, free, and grounding… was the outdoors.

So, I stayed outside all day. I walked, breathed in the fresh air, listened to the sound of the river. I wrote pages and pages in my journal, trying to make sense of it all or at least record what it felt like to be alive during such uncertain times.

My lesson of hope: Life will always throw curveballs, and sometimes, all you can do is catch them and keep going. Days like these remind us to slow down, pay attention, and focus on what truly matters, and who truly matters, in our lives.