As of last check there were over 41,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City. New York is in a state of “pause.” Many businesses are closed and the schools have moved to distance learning as my family and I enter our third week of sheltering in place. It is, at this time, easy for me to think about the things I cannot do. I cannot hug my grandmother on her 99th birthday, hold a gathering of friends and family to celebrate our daughter’s 6th birthday, or continue my tennis lessons. We’ve stopped Sunday visits to parents and grandparents.
Given all the things we cannot do we thought it important to take the time to reflect upon the good things we could and actually did do each day. Every evening at dinner, we go around the table and each of us shares what, to us, was the best thing about today. Among these best things are coloring, dance parties, sunshine, fresh air on the patio, crafts, streaming yoga classes done together as a family, virtual playdates and long conversations with friends and family. Despite the challenging times we are in, it is surprisingly easy to identify best things each day. Doing so does not make the challenges we face any less. However, it does remind us that even in the most challenging of situations, if we look for them, there are reasons to be grateful.
