How you doing? by Ruth Neuwald Falcon

I started this blog in the early days of the pandemic. In the first post I wrote: So, how are we going to do this? On our own? Yes. But we don’t have to feel so alone. It is my hope that this space can help us feel less isolated. I offer it as a virtual location where we can meet to share experiences, fears, observations, thoughts, articles, information… whatever.

I believe that the community that has grown here has been helpful to us as we’ve navigated these past two-plus years. I know it has been helpful to me, giving me a place to gather my thoughts and express myself, and, equally, important, to feel connected with all of you, whether through your posts, likes or comments, or just because I know you’re reading the blog.

Covid is still with us, but now another epidemic of death is clearly upon us as well and, whether or not the politicians are willing to fully acknowledge it, we are in a climate emergency. As I said in my most recent post, I fear for what is coming.

We are scattered around the country, but wherever we are, we are confronting similar challenges. A friend, who summers on an island in the Atlantic that can only be reached by ferry, said in an email that even walking on the beach there, she looks around in trepidation. For a long time, Covid had us keeping our forays into the world as brief as possible, but now my friends talk about feeling grateful each time they have made it back to the (relative) safety of their cars.

So, how are you doing? How are you coping with this overheated – literally and metaphorically – world we are inhabiting? For myself, there are days when I feel like I’m hanging on to hope and sanity by a thread. What are your days, and nights, like? Are you masking when you go out? Have you gone back to “normal” life? What are your fears? Your hopes? Do you see ways for us to avert disaster? What the hell are we going to do?

Whether you have written for the blog before or not, I hope you will be part of the conversation. As I said in March of 2020, I hope we can come together and, by doing so, feel less isolated.

No need to write something long. I’ll figure out how to share your words. And if you want to post anonymously, that’s all right too. Send me an email. However you’re up for doing it, I’m looking forward to hearing from you and to continuing to walk together.