Chickadees, Blue Jays,

and Robins are at it.

Singing and fighting.  

Because it is Spring.

Earthworms slide

across wet sidewalks.

Black and gray squirrels leap

from powerlines to branches

and dance across streets.

Most of them make it,

but some don’t.

We pass these little bodies

each day

without a second thought.

My kids play

basketball,

jump on the trampoline,

blow soap bubbles,

and hula hoop.

S.B. has

hand-painted glasses,

made one of our bathrooms Fish Pond Blue,

created a painting,

put together a 2000-piece puzzle,

and continues to do everything she’s always done.

All while homeschooling our daughter and son.  

They’re learning math and science.

Studying slavery,

Ghandi,

Mo Willems, Sally Ride,

the life cycle of bees,

and Economics.

All that

in only a few hours a day.

S.B. is amazing.

My kids are astounding.

And here I am,

working from home.

Getting fatter and stupider.

Sick for 10 days

and counting.

Don’t worry.

I’m lucky.

I am not one of the many that will be taken by COVID-19.

Or one of the 840,000

that will die

from cardiovascular disease.

The one million in the world

that will die

from mosquito bites.

Or one of the people

that gives up

every 40 seconds

and kills themselves.

Nope.

Not me.

Life’s too good for that.

This shelter in place provides

perspective.

Moments to observe and realize.

S.B. is not a morning person.

My son is smarter than his report card.

My daughter is an old soul.

And, in the morning,

if I think of the birds that I hear

as I make breakfast

while everyone sleeps

there is a life-changing discovery.

Flipping strips of bacon

by picking them up

in the middle

eliminates

fatty,

curled

ends.

~ KJ