This week marks six months of corona living and self-isolation at home. There has been no travel, no fiber festivals, no Knit Night, and no visits from family. Don’t get me wrong: I love being at home. I also know that I am very lucky and privileged to have a garden and to be in a rural area where it is easy to stay safe.

Virtual Living

A lot has changed over the last half year. We have all become Zoom masters and are making Amazon’s Jeff Bezos richer by ordering everything and anything online; I learned how to create live videos on Facebook and how to present my yarn at virtual fiber festivals; and I have taken lots of online courses to grasp how Instagram algorithms work (which are still a mystery to me). Thanks to WhatsUp we can chat and see each other on our phones.

Yes, life has shifted online and away from in-person contacts in the office and in stores. With many people working from home and children learning virtually, families are cooped up together; couples are together 24/7 craving solitude while others are alone and desperate for companionship. Life has changed a lot!

We love our Pets

Another aspect of life that has changed is our love for pets. Of course, people always had their cats and dogs. Americans spend a fortune every year on pet food and veterinarians. We love our furry companions – and now more than ever. The pandemic has helped to empty out animal shelters, kittens have become a rare and expensive commodity, and dog snatchers in the UK do a brisk business. With more people being at home, many dogs have been adopted since their new owners feel that they now have the time to take care of them. Others just want something furry to cuddle, like a cat that curls up in one’s lap.

Wild Critters

I live in a rural area. Rural is synonymous with wild life and critters. Self-quarantining at home has giving me the chance to observe the comings and goings on my porch. Let me tell you: it is a lively place. There are the raccoons who make the rounds at night looking for any leftover cat food.

I am not sure where the raccoons live, but life must be good because mama raccoon recently brought the kids around and they are all looking well-fed and healthy. Hot news: Cat food is good for raccoons!

I also see possums and the occasional fox. In the winter time there are sometimes deer traces in my yard; luckily there hasn’t been a bear yet. There used to be a colony of squirrels, but they have moved into nearby trees and I don’t see much of them.

Going forward

Nobody knows how our lives will look in a year from now. There isn’t much we can do right now except to look out for each other. We can call family members, go shopping to help elderly friends and take care of our furry loved ones. We can Zoom, email, text, write letters (remember those? When did you last stick a postage stamp onto an envelope addressed to your sister or your brother?)

Let’s love each other

We can love people and support each other, just as we love our pets. Our furry companions are often easier to handle than our fellow humans since they don’t argue but only look at us with their big and cute eyes, but, at the end of the day, it is the human connection, the fellowship with other people, that makes life worth living.

Perhaps this time of changed routines and uprooted normality will help us see that our love for each other is the only thing that matters. Besides knitting, of course!