With these time of uncertainty, remember to make good use of your home

Published 9:00 am Sunday, April 12, 2020

I hang on to the small rituals of the day, I hang on because they are the things I can be certain of. I am happy to be in this somewhat bucolic space, this is the place I am used to, the place I know so well.

 I know that the mockingbirds live in the white oak near the garden shed and that I will watch helplessly as they raid my biggest fig tree on July mornings. 

I know that there is a green lizard that lives behind the wooden shutter of my kitchen window and he will come out into the sun while I am making coffee each morning in spring as if to say hello and the tree frogs will sing with the moon rising and my honey bees will collect at the opening of the hive to feverishly fan  keeping things bearable inside for the queen bee and her brood when the summer sun is nearly impossible. 

I know that I will pick magnolias throughout the spring and early summer and that the inevitable midsummer heat will soon be here for my zinnias and lantana, as the locusts arrive and circle street lights while reminding me of childhood, just as the fireflies twinkling through the woods will do. 

I know I will pick honeysuckle vines for my kitchen and hang my laundry on days when there is no rain. 

I know the tides will roll in across the white sandy beaches along the Gulf Coast while I will be here, in the summer garden, picking cucumbers and eating fresh tomatoes in June. 

I know that home is a wonderful place to be and making any house a home only takes love and acts of kindness towards the ones who live there. 

I also know that good things and strength come from challenging times and that we will all find our way, it may not be as planned but it will still be good. 

These are some of the wonderful things I know.

 I don’t know what will happen next with this threatening virus. 

That is the uncertainty, that is where fear can, unfortunately, emerge and control. 

My thoughts continue to drift and I work persistently to stay in a place of positivity, a place of new growth and resurrection, a place called spring. 

I cannot think of a better way to end this column than with the wisdom of Pooh:

“I’ve wandered much further today than I should and I can’t seem to find my way back to the Wood. So help me if you can I’ve got to get back to the House at Pooh Corner by one. You’d be surprised there’s so much to be done, count all the bees in the hive, chase all the clouds from the sky.” 

I hope you find your way within these days of insecurity and make good use of this time at home, for the rush of the world is waiting right outside of your door. 

I wish you a Happy Easter  and a blessed Passover.

PAM SHENSKY is a wife and mom to five.