Spring Blooms & Butterflies

We've had gorgeous weather in Santa Fe this week and it feels like the world is emerging from hibernation after a year-long winter of the pandemic.  We are like butterflies, coming out of our chrysalises, testing out our wings for the first time as changed beings.  The bulbs in my garden are blooming already and the days are getting noticeably longer, so I've gotten to enjoy some warm and sunny walks through the neighborhood after work.  As more and more of my friends are vaccinated and COVID seems less of a threat, we're starting to gather in parks again, go on walks together, and I even went out to eat for the first time with a small group of other vaccinated friends.  We're still extremely vigilant with masking, hand hygiene, and limiting the size of gatherings, but it feels really refreshing and encouraging to return to some degree of normalcy in this new world.  

Ady examines a fresh Iris bloom in the front yard

Meredith is excited for a sunny afternoon at the park

Every day seems to bring a little more hope and positivity, which is in stark contrast to a year ago when the world crumbled before our eyes.  I look back on my journal from last year, reliving the devastation and doom that seemed to intensify day after day as reality set in.  This week last year, coronavirus first became a pandemic, schools and public places shut down for the first time, and athletic events were canceled.  This week last year, I took Ady to her last gymnastics class, went inside a library for the last time, and had drinks at a bar with friends.  This week last year, the first COVID death in the U.S. was reported, we started to quickly run out of PPE, and millions of Americans filed for unemployment.  It's hard to remember what life was like before March of last year, but I find a lot of comfort in the positive direction that we are headed now.  As of today, Santa Fe County is now Level Green, with a positivity rate of under 5%.

This is not the end, and we may not see the end for a very long time.  A few of my family members are currently sick with COVID, and I send them positive, healing vibes for a quick recovery.  Most of my friends and family members are not yet vaccinated, so the pandemic is still very real, and many people will not be returning to normalcy for many months to come.  In the hospital, we continue to witness death and severe illness on a regular basis, and we still have yet to see the full impact on secondary impairments, but overall this is manageable.  Patients are recovering and going home.  Members of the community are getting vaccinated.  Healthcare workers are starting to recover from the burden of the most recent surge.  

As the weather gets warmer and the days are longer, I'm also feeling a newfound energy for projects and goals.  I have mental capacity for goal-setting and creativity, which I didn't have a few months ago when my brain was bogged down with worry and despair.  I find myself saying yes to taking on more projects.  It feels like we're on the right path.  As we welcome the start of spring, we, too, are blooming into our new selves.

Who's walking whom?

Flamingo on a scooter

Taking a few steps during a playdate with friends

Checking out the old trains in Lamy

"In each flower

is the journey of past pain, 

in their beauty of how 

to endure the pain and cope with the conflicts in life, 

ease, stretch, crawl, unfold, fly and walk 

to the other side of pain, 

        where each fiber and breath and tissue is prompted to its highest expression, 

        emerging to explore the light."

Winter Poems Along the Rio Grande, Jimmy Santiago Baca