I’ll be honest: this quarantine has not been the hotbed of creativity I hoped. Some days, I’ve done little but the basics—feeding people, brushing my teeth, checking in with family. All while combating the weird lethargy of being frozen in flux: between projects and contracts, in the midst of an entire house remodel (as I write this there is literally a toilet in the middle of our basement), almost at the end of the boys’ school year, in a frozen spring on the cusp of selling my old townhome and moving the rest of everything to the farm. A lot of activity in the midst of stasis in which I’ve been grateful for great gifts—my faith and the love of a strong-shouldered partner—and small but mighty mercies: sprouts for the new vertical garden @thefarmerbryan is helping me build, homemade Mother’s Day cards and gifts from my kids, laughter at the weird antics of our dogs, the gifts and kindnesses passed between family members in the form of food and errands, nightly Story Time with my readers who have become to me as old friends, the invention of AirPods, eBooks, and movies, the joy of Sunday drives, sunshine, birdseed, and the sound of rain. I thank God for their pinpricks of light in the pervasive grey of this strange spring.

What small blessings give you hope right now?