At times it feels as if it has been five years since last Christmas, but from one Sunday to the next takes only about three days. So here we are in apartment 204, warm well-nourished and safely sheltered by our Pilgrim Place administration that profoundly cares. While Covid-19 is ravishing this part of California, we have had no hospitalizations and no deaths. We are basically shut down and confined to our own residences.Nevertheless, we feel little pride in our relative safety while all around us is grief and loss, and there is nothing we can do to alleviate the suffering. Smugness defies the Christmas story,
Our deepest feeling is the sadness of not seeing family and friends. There are no gatherings here at Pilgrim Place, and while ZOOM makes a difference, it is no substitute for the richness of community.
Wendy stays busy with her twice daily walks with two or three of her friends who never touch each other but who share their inner lives. Charles spends morning polishing his weekly columns, and afternoons producing watercolor paintings. Both of us are devouring the stack of books too long neglected, but our greatest blessing is each other. As our remaining years continuing to be diminished, we are never far from each other’s heart Our families are well, but again this year’s Christmas greeting centers on letting friends know that we are surviving.
Much of the year has focused on a profound hope for an America that has survived the suffering of the past four years and the grimness of this one.
After all, isn’t that what the larger message of Christmas is all about? So we hang on, knowing that there is a star, an angel’s song and a manger child.
Wendy and Charles
candwbayer@verizon.net
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