JanBeek

There I am in the top-middle – happily holding my two bells, ready to practice with the Ennis Bell Ringers. This photo was taken last December before all this COVID-19 pandemic was known. We learned a series of songs to play at a Christmas concert, and were set to start learning patriotic songs so we could give a concert here in Ennis on the 4th of July. And all of a sudden, everything was cancelled. You know the feeling.

I sing in our church choir, too… and those practices had to be cancelled.

I volunteered (past tense) at our Senior Center as a sous chef, and at our local hospital as a receptionist one day a week. Those opportunities to serve were cancelled.

I miss:

• singing with the choir
• playing with the bell ringers
• volunteering as a sous chef
• volunteering to work one day a week at our local hospital
• visiting my friends at the local nursing home
• having neighborhood parties
• hugging my friends
• the carefree safety of flying to California or Pennsylvania or Switzerland to be with my children and their families, my sis and my niece
• the freedom to shake hands with people I meet
• and so much more…

I am grateful that we live where we do because here in the Madison Valley of Montana, we still are able to:

• go four-wheeling in the mountains with friends in the wide-open spaces
• attend church services outside on the lawn
• hug one another (Bob & me… thank God!)
• wear a mask and socially distance at CostCo or our local grocery store to do our shopping
• interact with family and friends using the internet… here’s my sister in her last FaceTime meeting with her daughter and grandson (a real smile – yay!)

We still can hop in the car and go to see the beautiful scenery around us. In places up high, there still is snow on the ground!

And thanks to the internet, friends who go to visit Yellowstone Park can send pictures of the bison – and we can enjoy the sights they see vicariously!

So, instead of focusing on what I miss, I guess I should look at the joys we still can enjoy, right? My grandson, Mike, in Switzerland, went to a friend’s wedding last weekend – and he sent me a lovely picture of him with his darling girlfriend, Tania. I miss seeing him in person and meeting his friend in person, but I am grateful that he reaches out to me and that he sent this terrific photo:

They have those same beautiful mountains there – even prettier – that we have here in Montana. See them behind the couple? The Alps are pretty spectacular! And of course, you noticed that foot that’s stuck in the photo there, right? Someone’s having fun. I can feel the joyfulness, can’t you?

What is it that you are missing?
And what are you grateful for today? Tell me!

See ya tomorrow.
Love ya…. thanks for visiting
JanBeek