Trail Toward Home

The election will be over in November yet the coronavirus pandemic will not. It’s time to decide what’s next.

For each of us the decision will be different. For many there is no choice but to face the actuality of economic hardship, isolation from friends and family, and deaths of loved ones. The pandemic is expected to continue into 2022, according to experts in public health. By the time we are out of the woods I’ll be a septuagenarian, hopefully a survivor of the coronavirus, with another ten active years. What to do?

I’m focused on now. A couple of things are immediately clear.

Regardless of who wins the Nov. 3 election two paths converge: escalation of resistance and dissent, and party building leading to the 2022 midterm elections. Both are important in a time when income inequality is so pronounced.

I’m already thinking of next year’s garden and possibilities for generating some income from home. The house needs repairs and remodeling would be nice. There is a lifetime of stuff to sort and dispose of. Development of the kitchen garden concept will be part of next year’s work, yet most energy will be devoted to writing.

I’ve written from a young age, beginning with letters home from YMCA camp. After graduation from college through today is a continuous thread of journals, letters to the editor, and letters to friends. Since we bought our first home computer in 1996 there are emails and 13 years of writing a blog. A lot of words, some better than others.

Because of the continuing pandemic I’m going to step back and continue to stay on and near our property as much as possible. Importantly I’ll use this place to write more, with a goal of finishing a draft of my autobiography by the end of 2021. I’ll carve out more writing time and increase my daily output from the current 500 words per day on this blog to more than double that. A byproduct of the process will be posting here regularly but less often. I plan to keep the blog open.

Our whole family is in transition because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is unsettling in the present and days ahead seem uncertain. It is best to embrace the inevitability of unwelcome change and be who we are.

The pandemic has been like an Australian walkabout. Our traditions and inherited way of life came to dominate the present. As we find the trail toward home there is faith we will become useful again and emerge from the isolating year 2020 has been to come together as society.

There is hope for realizing life’s potential in every breath, in every sunrise. Our next journey will be familiar although it is only just beginning.