What Got Us Through

There’s more space in my calendar now.

The flight alerts are gone.

Our children are social distancing – 

from school, friends, sports.

None of us knows what comes next.

I’m holding my breath – 

not just this minute, but all the minutes.

Scanning the horizon for silver linings 

in a fog I believed would come much, much later.

Creature comforts no longer feel comfortable.

It’s been mere weeks, and already 

I would trade modern conveniences 

(grocery delivery, streaming, webcasts)

for the things I’d trained myself to minimize – 

a carefree trip to the store.

A Friday night at the movies with loud teenagers.

A business meeting I never wanted to attend.

But here we are.

Alone, together.

Clinging to our routines with a growing awareness 

that half of them mean very little now. 

I’m busying myself by peeling back the layers. 

Reflecting on what matters, and who.

Doing seemingly mundane things more thoughtfully:

making dinner, listening...telling stories.

Considering how I can do the most good. 

We must stay alive, friends – 

mentally, emotionally, and relationally.

We must harness our inherent value and pour it out – 

into shadowy spaces, 

onto people who are suffering, 

over rising fear and helplessness. 

I’m starting here. With this. With you. 

With creativity and vulnerability and generosity and love.

Because with all the technology 

and affects we’ve wrapped around ourselves, 

they are, in fact, the only things that ever got us through.

Tara Jaye Frank is a passionate leadership speaker and consultant, a blessed wife, a grateful mother of six children ages thirteen to twenty-two, and a firm believer in human potential. She designs and facilitates leadership experiences for companies and member organizations and recently founded #MoreThan: A Movement - a healing movement toward deeper understanding between disconnected people. Share your #morethan story at morethanamovement.com and join the movement on IG/Twitter @morethanmove, and on Facebook @morethanahealingmovement.