return

Hello world! Are you still out there? I was starting to wonder, what with this seemingly endless lock down order and the newfound monotony of each day spent at home.

I figure it is high time for a few updates.

Currently, I am sitting in my parents’ house in Indiana with slippers on my feet and a hot water bottle in my lap. I arrived back in the United States six ago and have been respecting the shelter in place directions since then.

This was certainly an unexpected development as I had originally been planning to stay in Mende until this week – the first week of May. I stayed for six out of eight months in my contract but by mid-March, the coronavirus pandemic had spread to the major urban centers in France and President Macron closed schools indefinitely. I spent one week in lock down in my dorm building before making the difficult decision to return to the U.S.

I respected the 14 day self-quarantine recommendations following my return Stateside by spending most of my days in my room and vigorously wiping down any surface I touched with a disinfectant wipe. Those two weeks passed and now I’ve been four weeks free of the specter of a potential infection following me around the house.

I’ve been dealing with the continued lock down like many other people around the world: baking, reading, sewing masks, painting, watching movies, scrolling through the news online, soaking up the sunshine, walking, biking, journaling, praying, practicing yoga, crying and breathing through it.

This is my present. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m practicing hope.

Take care, my friends.