If our winter gathering had been a week later, I would have cancelled it. As the numbers of COVID-19 infections rise in NYC, I keep wondering when/if a mandatory quarantine will be instituted. Making flower deliveries, I bleach the vases and place arrangements while wearing latex gloves. Every sneeze is suspect and every embrace, a threat. We are living in a time when the most dangerous of actions are not violent or ill-intentioned but rather caused by gathering together or offering a loving touch.
As I walked through the communion line on Sunday morning, I almost started tearing up as the shared cup was traded for individual plastic receptacles and wafers were given in lieu of breaking off pieces from the larger body of bread. Why was I so emotional? Perhaps communion is a symbol of the larger consequence of the whole pandemic which is a breaking from the body. Those already experiencing isolation are now even more cut off from the world. I am reading accounts of those living in Italy and China who, as a result of the isolation, are actually spending more time with their families. BUT. What about those who do not have a family to hunker down and quarantine with, those already battling mental health struggles who feel alone? How can we manifest gathering when it is unsafe to meet physically?
Last Saturday Flower Clvb held its winter gathering. We got together and planted seeds in dirt pods and talked about how to keep them alive. Everyone walked home with a container of dirt and a sprig of hope. It’s only been five days and things have already begun to sprout. With all the Coronavirus talk, it’s easy to forget that this is the time to plant seeds, bask in the joy of the blooming Apple Blossoms and take pause to appreciate the Daffodils peaking out of the ground. Even amidst a city shutting down, we can still practice the physical act of caring by touching the earth, even when we cannot touch each other.
Perhaps when you go to the hardware store to pick up cleaning supplies, you could grab some seeds too. I wonder if the seedlings might connect us in some way as we care and nurture them communally. I am such an advocate for urban gardening and getting creative about space. For the past two years I’ve kept a spring/summer fire escape garden and in the process learned so much about flower growing in the Northeast. July’s Zinnias, Cosmos and Celosia melt my heart. In at attempt to gather without physically meeting up, I decided to create a Facebook Group called Garden Clvb where we can share and discuss the things we are growing. Feel free to join HERE.
Often I will think about a friend or family member or remember a sweet time we had together and the thought will flow in and flow out without expressing it to that person. More than ever, when we think of someone lovingly, let’s take the time to express it whether through a phone call, text, letter, Marco Polo or Voxer. It seems small but it could brighten someone’s day in a real way. The Coronavirus is a reminder of how connected we all really are and how even the smallest of actions have major impacts on vulnerable populations. I wonder if this awareness will prompt us to extend kindness to the environment or strangers we meet. Imagine living in a world, where we are not just seeing those close to us as our own but also, everything from the dirt to the neighbors around us.
Xo,
Grace
