March: comes in like a lion goes out like a lamb.

Lion? HA!!! Hardly. More like a freaking virus breathing dragon on steroids looking for fresh meat! Seriously, it has been one crazy year, uh hum, 3 MONTHS!!

Can you believe 2020 is only three months old? That’s right, we are a measly three months into 2020 and, wow, what a ride.

In 3 months there’s been attacks on a US Embassy, fires, stress about weapons of mass destruction, Royals who aren’t anymore, and winter storms, just to name a few.

Then, the big one arrives…Coronavirus. Suddenly, the entire world is in the same boat and trying to row in the same direction…how to stop this thing from going any more crazy than it already has.

We have doctors making decisions they never thought they’d have to make. Seriously, we have countries who are having to decide who is worth saving and who they are going to have to let nature take its course with.

We have entire states shutting down. Essential personnel only. Stay home. Keep your distance. Wash your hands. Grab gas pumps with your bare hands and risk getting the infection. Facebook memes being born every second AND shared. Grocery stores emptied. Toilet paper the HOT commodity of the year (ok, I don’t get this one, but it’s happening).

Where am I going with all of this? Saying life is crazy doesn’t cover it. Saying we’re going to make it seems shallow. So where AM I going with this?

Here’s the thing. I’ve been pondering this entire madness (let’s face it, I’ve had lots of time to think 🙂 ) and here’s what I’m coming up with.

Every day I hear someone complain about the speed at which their life moves. There’s never enough time in the day to accomplish everything they want to do.

I hear people talk about how tired they are all.the.time. No matter how they try they just can’t get enough sleep.

I hear people talk about all they miss out on because they have to work.

I hear how couples pass each other in the night as they put the kids to bed, do the laundry or whatever.

We’ve been handed something we may not be handed again. TIME!! DON’T WASTE IT.

Everything going on in the world is scary stuff. The economy is in a wobbly place. Incomes are teetering. Infection is around every corner. The world has been a scary place before this and it will be a scary place after this, well, sometimes it will be.

BUT

If you can close you eyes, take a deep breath, exhale slowly and remember how important time has been to you and how many times you’ve felt like there was never enough of it, maybe things will look a little different.

Maybe the shut downs, closures, quarantine won’t look so much like a monster but a fluffy little bunny (eh, Easter’s coming and that popped into my head) who just gave you one of the most precious of gifts -extra time.

Suddenly there’s time to do all of those things you only wished for prior to the madness that is covid-19.

There’s time to:

read to the kids

start those garden seeds

clean the attic

rearrange the furniture

paint the living room

read a book

draw

write

color

try that new recipe

snuggle with your honey

get some extra sleep

take photos

go for a walk

take a class

play tag with the littles

teach them things they can’t learn in school (how to change a tire, or build a birdhouse or do a budget)

talk with your friends

send a card

watch that movie

sit on your patio and listen to the birds

The possibilities are endless and now, NOW you have the time. No it didn’t come from the greatest of circumstances, but it did come. TIme came and it sat down at your house. It walked in and said,

“Here I am! What are you going to do with me?”

I guess the question is, what WILL YOU DO with the extra time you’ve been given? You may never get another chance. You may never have this extra time again.

You can spend this gift worrying, fretting, and upset

OR

You can use common sense, take precautions, and see it for the BLESSING IT IS.

How will you spend your extra time?