March 24

March 24, 2020

Silence in the mountain was deafening today, it should be full of spring breakers, of kids, of fun, of energy; instead it’s empty.  We left again, as if for the last time?  I hope that the next time we go to Big White the world will be sane.  It won’t be the same, ever, but I hope it will be sane.  

Coming back into Kelowna things seem normal in many ways.  The roads are busy, people are still going about their lives, a pair of workers fix a fence.  A pair of women wait at the cross walk, a little more spaced apart than what only eight days ago would seem normal.  There is an underlying energy that feels wrong somehow, as if we are waiting on the edge. 

We walked again tonight trying to connect with our world.  Walking out the door we see some neighbours from the top of the road, people we never see. They smile and stop to talk, social distance measures in effect.  Strange and eerie, in the back of our minds something screams keep your distance.   Yet we need to connect, to feel that human companionship, a basic form of love.  We smile and walk away strangely rewarded by five minutes connection. 

Walking down the hill we see more neighbours who we never see.  They keep to their side of the street, yet we connect and relate to the nervousness and the fear, the surreal nature of our circumstances.  After the inevitable chat about how strange things are, we become thankful for the beauty of our street. We walk away somehow uplifted, energised by the few minutes chatting.  Even if the world does go to hell we still have our beautiful little corner and we will survive.

We come back home recharged and feeling one step closer to normal, continuing to hope for better times ahead