I have a little confession to make. Of course, just typing that makes my heart heavy knowing that during this time of isolation, we are unable to go to Confession….but more on that later.
The other day I saw my husband running to the front door. My niece, Katie had dropped something on the porch and was already down the stairs when we opened the door and screamed, "Hey!" Hopefully we didn't sound too desperate. We were just so excited to see her…..but more on that later.
No offense if you're reading this Katie, but we are just excited to see anyone right now. The doorbell rings and the kids and I are like a herd of cattle trying to catch a glimpse of the Fed-Ex guy as he runs back to his truck. Poor little things are just happy to see another human being. Wishing he could just stay a while, they turn disappointed. Having the children home all the time, I realize just how much they take on our habits. Little did they know that my watching the Fed-Ex guy was going on LONG before isolation. 😉
Anyway, back to Katie. It was so nice catching up with her, even at the required 10 feet. Now, Katie loves to bake. She mentioned that she had wanted to bake a cake for her nephew, but with all the empty shelves at the store she couldn't find butter. John laughed out loud, "How much do you need?" as he pointed at me. "While the rest of the grocery store was mudslinging it out on the toilet paper aisle, she was sneaking over to the butter aisle." I gave him the death stare as he proceeded to give her my inventory of 4 boxes in the outside fridge, 2 more in the inside fridge, and a few random squeeze bottles here and there.
I started to defend my life-long love affair with butter, but instead changed the subject. I realized I was “one of those people.” But what kind of people is that? You see, I've been in my house, like the rest of you, for 3 weeks and I have already made several cakes and baked a few batches of cookies. I didn't mean to hoard butter, and I'm sorry if you are running short, but I just wanted life in the bubble to be normal for my family. In a world that seems to be losing control, I surrender those things I can not control and hold on to the things I can. An Ooey Gooey Butter Cake after dinner, sitting around the table, brings joy. It just does. Unlike the kids, for me, it isn't the cake that brings the joy. The joy comes from being around the table together, sharing stories while we share cake. It would seem we would run out of things to say, being secluded, but we never do. Life inside the bubble continues with its same ups and downs, its same tears and its same laughs.
So when life slowly returns to normal, whenever and whatever that may be, I will see you in the confession line. Guilty of wanting a slice of normalcy in a world that is anything but normal right now.
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