April Full

Hey all you cool cats and kittens!

How’s life treating you in Quarantina?

I just finished up the last bit of laundry left from January. Whew. Glad my kids finally have some clean underbritches. That’s not all I’ve finished, mind you. I finished cleaning a closet that had everythang in it, a package of Reester bunnies, the unquestionably-soon-to-be-Emmy-nominated series Tiger King, a party sized bag of plain Lays, bottle(s) of wine, and Instagram. Finished all those things, all by myself. <Insert a grinning chubby faced Emoji here>

Up next on my list of things to finish: parenting and a roll of raw cookie dough. (And maybe another bottle of wine. As I’ve said before, I’m no quitter.) Any bets on what I’ll finish first?

When we finally get back to reality, my youngest may look like Cousin It. His hairdresser better start sharpening her shears now, because when I glance over at him, I have to do a second take sometimes to make sure it’s not a little goat (especially considering the way he eats! MY LANDS!) sitting beside me. She may even need to employ some hedge clippers.

In all seriousness, this COVID-19ness is a mess. People are getting sick, so sick and not just in the world, which is huge, but in my little hometown– our little hometown– which in some ways feels huger. I’m supposing so because it’s thisclose to home; close enough that we can reach six feet out from around us and know someone (if not us, ourselves) who has been affected by this nasty, soulless virus. It’s bad y’all.

And to be frank (y’all who know me know: Frank’s my middle name) I’m tired of all the selfishness. There is proof before our very eyes about what egomaniacal people we are; evidence of “the rules don’t apply to me,” everywhere. I get it, it’s not fun being “put out,” so to speak — like not being able to be around our loved ones, our friends and families, or church families, go shopping or out to eat, and all the things that involve groups of peoples! (Listen, I’m preaching to the extrovert choir right here! I NEED PEOPLE. They give me energy! Even the selfish ones!) Our culture has a very I’ll-do-what-I-want-when-I-want-and-if-that-doesn’t-work-out,-Amazon-will-deliver-it-in-30-minutes mentality. Impatient and a little bit lazy and a lot bit self-absorbed. Maybe that’s too harsh on us (us because ME. I told you I was preaching to the choir). But we who aren’t practicing social distancing, sheltering as we need to, and not using the very brain our Good God gave us are just thinking about one thing when it’s boiled on down and hashed on out: self. Full on ate up with it. This virus knows no boundaries and uses no brakes so WE have to take it upon ourselves to lay the tack strips out and flatten the wheels on this proliferating virus and in turn flatten the curve. Distance yourselves y’all.

All y’all!

Just the other day, I saw a post on social media (because duh, quarantine) that said churches will be empty on Easter Sunday, just like the tomb was on that miraculous day. It got me to thinking (because duh, quarantine).

Some people may say that’s sad. And sort of, I get that. But a thought woke me up in my sleep last night and just stuck with me:

Things have to be emptied for other things to be filled.

Humph. Not some revelatory thought, I know, but bear with me: Just like a full coffee pot pours into a coffee cup, only to empty itself in that process. Or like a tank brimming with gas that propels our cars, emptying itself as it gets us to and fro. Like a plate of food loads a hungry belly, left clean as the tummy is filled up. (At least my plates, y’all.) Unloading washing machines with jobs finished to dryers awaiting to do theirs. Empty to fill up.

And as of late, oxygen tanks emptying into drowning lungs struggling to do their life’s calling: breathe. School rooms once filled with little communities, learning to get along together and learn some too, now empty: BUT houses full of babies, devices illuminating faces around the clock for a sort of connection, filling up hearts to make it another day without touch.

Things have to be emptied for other things to be filled.

And so, although there are many empty places around because we have to (and should genuinely want to) for the love of others, let’s all remember that when something, somewhere, someone empties itself out,

something, somewhere, someone has the opportunity to be filled up.

Are you full? Hmmmm.

Empty doesn’t sound so sad after all.

Fill ‘er up!