For the nurses

Yesterday, I texted for a while with a nurse I know. We aren’t close but I’ve known her for decades. I wanted to see how she was, and more than that, I wanted to thank her for the work that she’s doing.

She talked to me a bit about how hard it is, how sometimes in these days it’s easy to get down about everything that’s happening. She talked about wanting to provide comfort and being limited in her ability to do so.

What do you say to someone who is on the front lines of this crisis? I’m not sure. I told her how much I admire what she’s doing; I told her that when all this is over, she’ll have lifetime privileges to request any kind of cookie I can make.

My words were insufficient. She is, like so many other medical professionals, dealing with something I can’t even imagine; she’s going to work every day with a commitment to healing, even when it’s hard to imagine that happening.

Eventually, my words ran out and so I opted for pictures of flowers, so abundant right now in this coastal spring. She said they helped, and so I’m sharing some here too. If you’re working on the front lines of this situation, in whatever capacity, you have my deepest gratitude. And if you’re not, if you’re doing the best you can while sheltering in place, you still have my wholehearted admiration.

Maybe remembering that the world of nature goes on, unbothered, can help just the tiniest bit. The flowers will keep blooming throughout, doing their thing, growing in the sun, being the joy that they are.

It’s good to remember that we will get through this. And when we do, the world will be waiting, in all its beauty, to welcome us back into the fold, once more.