From the Editor

May the 4th brought some welcome changes to the county when businesses reopened. Although most will operate with modified hours and means of operation using social distancing and masks, it’s a good start to getting back to the way things were. Maybe. I have read so much about speculations “after the virus.”
Some think things will never be the same. Optimists see a world where people are more aware of their actions to maintain good health and good communication with one another. We’ve all been pushed to be more compassionate. Most of us have found new hobbies and ways to explore working from home other than opening our laptops. Kids have been outdoors more because after hours of homework, sitting at a gaming console isn’t as much fun as it used to be. Some have actually cleaned their rooms and purged their closets.
In my rant about the things I miss during this quarantine I forgot to mention the library closing. I was two books into a series of seven when the county library closed. I’ve read other books since then, sorting through my stacks of “to be read” material, but I really want to get back to my series before I forget where I left off. The library has missed its little people, too. What a great time they will all have when they can gather for Story Time without having to sit apart. Squirming beside one another and holding hands, giggling at the antics of Pete the Cat.
The pessimists? Well, they tell us we’re all going to Hades in a hand basket. That the economy will never rebound, and that thousands more will die this fall when the second wave hits. That is just depressing. And true or not, right now I want to believe in the positive.
I don’t care enough to detangle the economic and political threads of the world’s response to this virus. And as much as I hate to admit it, the more I read, the more there is to sort out and my knowledge base becomes a means to more confusion and doubt.
So, I lead with my heart. I reach down for the core beliefs I’ve held all my life; the lessons I learned as a child from so many who loved and nurtured me. Some lessons from those who hurt me hardened my soul and I keep those, too. Because if I’m a Pollyanna, I’m also the girl who has seen some darkness and felt enough pain to know this return to normal may be very different than any of us expect.