Editor’s Note: Contributor Kim Hanewich wrote this near the end of last month and we are pleased to share it with our readers now as the Valley enjoys typical summer temperatures in November.
As the first ground covering snowfall of the season is underway, a pizza dough rises, and music from Game Of Thrones plays in the background, I wonder what this winter will bring.
Last winter it was easy to understand that the pandemic would last for a bit, and although this winter has not yet started, there is already an increasing number of COVID cases in the province, country and around the world. Each day there is also an onslaught of concerning information from our southern neighbours.
After an exceptionally productive gardening season and an unusual, physically-distanced spring and summer, today the reality of the virus being around for the long haul is sinking in. Still, no stopping by for coffee or tea or collective meetings for work or gatherings for pleasure. The sharing of indoor space with groups of people as a threat to health still seems strange and unnatural, even though I think it both true and valid.
The heartening part of these circumstances is that I think we are able to better understand our humanness. We are social beings and often most naturally comfortable interacting. By choosing to be apart because we care about our health and the health of others, we are not saying we like these circumstances. What we are doing is demonstrating that we want to give everyone the best chance to stay healthy until a vaccine — hopefully and eventually — becomes available for all of us.
History has shown us that things have always been subject to change. I think that this is one constant that can be a cause for hope during this COVID winter.
About the author: Kim Hanewich is a practicing artist and writer who runs www.circlesofbalance.ca She grew up rurally on the north shore of Lake Ontario and has lived in the Madawaska Valley, where she raised her two sons, for the past 30 years.
Above: pizza, selfie photos by Kim Hanewich
