Strange places
“Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.” ~Robert Hunter, of the Grateful Dead
It’s amazing what a couple of weeks of illness and isolation will do for you. You realize, for starters, how many things you’ve taken for granted for so long. The ability to taste and smell your food. The company of good friends. The freedom to run errands or go anywhere you please.
Last month, Doug and I were hit with unrelenting cases of COVID-19. As I write this, I’m on Day 11, still testing positive with mild symptoms.
But there are glimmers of hope. Yesterday I caught a faint whiff of the lemon in my tea mug — a small slice of bliss. And later in the day, I felt energetic enough to take Coco for a walk in the sunshine at a local park. There were early signs of spring on the trail: noisy mallard ducks congregating in the pond and subtle hints of green emerging from the underbrush. I started feeling like my better self again.
Sometimes it takes getting knocked down to realize how lucky we’ve been, all along. ~CL
Cindy La Ferle
Throughout my career, I've worked as a book production editor, travel magazine editor, features writer, and weekly newspaper columnist. My award-winning lifestyles features and essays have appeared in many national magazines and anthologies, including Newsweek, Reader's Digest, The Christian Science Monitor, Writer's Digest, Victoria, Better Homes & Gardens, Bella Grace, and more. My weekly Sunday "Life Lines" column ran for 14 years in The Daily Tribune (Royal Oak, MI) and won a First Place (Local Columns) award from the Michigan Press Association. My essay collection, Writing Home, includes 93 previously published columns and essays focusing on parenthood and family life.
