A Quarantine Year

Our world went from cities and states

crowds and strangers

classrooms and errands

to the four walls of our house

and our blessed front yard.

The six of us gathered together

each afternoon 

to enjoy the outside

the sunshine

the air in our lungs

the sound of the birds

and the wind in the trees.

We were grumpy and grateful,

tired and laughing.

We were weary and wanting

what used to be normal.

All day, everyday, we were thrown together,

saved by space and screens,

Zoom meetings and bike rides.

Each night at dinner we'd go round the table,

listing our bests and our worsts

and what made us grateful.

This family of ours is both

what made this year tolerable

and what made it impossible.

But together we emerged, 14 months later,

going back into classrooms and slowly on errands,

praying the new normal keeps

inching

closer and closer

to what used to be.

-Shelly Cunningham