Welcome to our weekly Five Minute Friday writing prompt link-up!
This week’s FMF writing prompt is: NORMALÂ
Ready? GO.Â
I’m not sure when it happened, but sometime in the past couple of weeks — after almost two months at home under a Stay at Home order, I felt myself settle. As if this has become the new normal.
The kids have gotten used to doing school online, taking pictures of their written assignments and uploading them to Google Classroom to submit to their teachers. I’ve settled into a routine of going out for groceries every two weeks on Wednesday mornings, figuring out how to make the food I purchase stretch through 14 days. My husband and I take daily late afternoon walks, solving the world’s problems as we stroll and admire the spring buds on the trees.
Now there is talk of our church re-opening soon, and our state’s executive Stay at Home order is scheduled to lift in the next couple of weeks. What will life look like then? Will the summer feel “normal”? If so, which normal?
It’s still impossible to plan ahead, to think about possible summer jobs for my teenagers or day camp opportunities.
And yet, spring comes. June will follow May as it always has, and His mercies will be new every morning. The sun will rise and set, and I will continue to presume that His grace is normal, too.
STOP.
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Join this week’s link-up by clicking the blue “Add Your Link” button below, or leaving your five-minute freewrite in the comments:Â
The world goes back to what it was,
or what it’s going to be;
don’t expect my cheers, because
it will not be for me.
I’m still fighting bloody hard
and things go fast downhill.
Other day, I passed out in the yard,
but still too tough to kill.
I wish that I could see a light
at this tunnel’s end;
or that I could quit the fight
and break instead of bend,
or that there could be a way
that I might find my yesterday.
I’m so glad things are getting back to normal! May we take the good from this experience and learn from it. May we learn from the bad, too.
This is beautifully written, Anita. I feel the same as you, as though I held my breath waiting for the return to normal for several weeks before I finally relaxed into this new life. Almost as soon as I did, we re-opened Tennessee. But it doesn’t feel the same. Just like as in your situation, my son (16) won’t be starting his first job or going to summer camp. It’s scary. The virus is still so present. Just today my parents received a notice at their campground (they have retired there) saying that someone in the tiny campground has tested positive and they want everyone tested. In the end, I sure do wish I had a chance to appreciate the old normal in the way I only can now. Stay safe!