The joy of the little things

Everyday is déjà vu. Weekends disappeared and days of the week don’t matter anymore. It was the point where many memorized their times and days for Zoom classes, when boredom kicked in. 

Simply sinking in the extra time wasn’t the right option for me. Something I found to fill in those empty times is to go outside. When school was in session, there was little to no time for me to venture into the outdoors. Now, there’s time for a week full of field trips. Time was something I never had, but now, it’s the only thing I have.

For the first time in 16 years, I took a walk on a trail with my family. It was a short 20 minute walk, but I ran across so many things. From beautiful purple flowers to our neighbors’ chaotic dogs, I realized there was always beauty around me that I didn’t appreciate enough. Although Iowa may seem like a dull landscape full of corn fields with absolutely no skyscrapers, instead we have nature. In big cities such as New York where there are countless numbers of skyscrapers and buildings, there isn’t a “real” sky. Obviously wherever you go, you’ll have a sky over your head, but New York’s sky is simply not the same as an Iowan sky. Iowa skies are wide, clear and usually brightly blue with white clouds. There are no skyscrapers to disrupt nature and not enough building lights to make the stars disappear. 

Once I step back into the house after going outside, there’s another thing that lifts my soul: my two cats. Before the time of social distancing, my cats were probably throwing their own party when they were home alone. Sadly, their “home-alone parties” are taken away, leaving them with human company 24/7. Although I may have taken away my cats’ “parties” they may have looked forward to everyday, I gained my time with my cats. They may be feeling stressed with constantly having everyone in the house and might be frustrated for not having the alone time they used to have (sorry cats for chasing you around), but having more time with them is something I also wanted, and now have. They’re also probably satisfied there’s someone in the house to get food from whenever they want. 

While a lot of sporting events have been cancelled or postponed, TV has been full of past golf tournaments and Indy 500 races. I have to admit, golf and car races are not necessarily my favorite sports to watch (no offense golfers and cars) but I realized those sports shouldn’t be underrated. The tiny golf ball gets swung in the air and nearly vanishes itself, yet it somehow finds its way near the hole…and sometimes even in it. That’s when I recognized those sports are just as intense and difficult as the “popular” sports.

Surprisingly, school is on my wish list. The friends and teachers I used to see in a classroom on a daily basis are now the people who I see over a screen. Sitting in a classroom and newsroom is something I took for granted and truly miss. As days pass and the fall season approaches, the question of how and when school is resuming starts to rise. Having an everyday routine seems like decades ago and this year’s 2020 vision predictions were obliterated. Although the recipe for a special year is everything but a pandemic, we should appreciate the little things during this historic time.