Erin's Journals

Just a thought…

My wish for you
Is that you continue

Continue

To be who and how you are
To astonish a mean world
With your acts of kindness.

[Maya Angelou]

Here’s to the kindness that is bubbling to the surface of the murky waters we’re all treading these days. I am overdue, but this journal is one that I’ve been compiling for days.

I’ll save the best ’til last, but read on, and if there’s anyone you feel should be thanked – because I’m sure to miss someone – please add your contribution at facebook.com/erindavispage. Other than that, these are not ranked in any kind of order.

Here goes:

Thanks to Kevin Frankish, BT alumnus for inviting me to share an hour with him yesterday. I couldn’t believe how quickly the time passed and I promise it will for you, too. Enjoy: here’s the link. 

__________

Now to the folks out there with REAL jobs. I’m talking about the lesser-profile heroes: the people working in grocery stores stocking shelves (including my teenaged niece in Kelowna) and facing people at their worst.

We read that our regular grocery store back in Palm Springs has had plexiglass installed to protect cashiers after one actually got spit on. I can’t even form in my mind any kind of scenario where that could have unfolded. Did someone get called out for buying 18 of something and clearing the shelves? What would make anyone do that?

What’s next: bulletproof glass? Because so many people are armed, and the gun and ammo stores are having their best months in business since someone told them Obama was “coming for there guns.” (Note: Yes, I deliberately used the wrong word!)

I’m thinking of the drivers of trucks, courier and food delivery vehicles and transit of all kinds – from flight crews to cabbies – who are out there trying to make sure people get what they need, and where they absolutely have to be. They’re the ones making sure those shelves stay stocked, until the selfish hoarders fill their carts to the brim and beyond, leaving the rest of us with nothing.

My heart goes out to the members of the media who are working long hours, and putting their own health on the line, to make sure we get the information we need during these tumultuous times.

There’s a lot of mistruth out there and it’s up to us – more than ever – to be discerning about how much and just what we take in and digest. But we can always find a source we trust that will help us to understand and to use that information as power.

These people, the ones who consider what they do a calling more than a job, are working hard to bring it to us and they deserve our gratitude, instead of the constant grenades people throw at “the media” for delivering news they don’t want to hear. Most – not all (looking at FOX, Rush Limbaugh and that putrid lot) – but most are trying to help us to stay safe and to be prepared and informed.

On a related note, thank you to the everyday radio and television people who are doing their jobs, striving to keep a semblance of normalcy, trying to balance the gravity of the day-to-day with humour and sensitivity. The government of Ontario may put them at the very bottom of their list of essential services, but they’re up near the top for people who want to feel connected and informed.

The engineers, the producers and the people whose names you don’t hear or read in the credits: they’re making these miraculous connections possible. (I did it for three months back in 1991 and it made headlines then; who knew that one day everyone would be doing their shows in their bathrobes – or was that just me?)

I would do just about anything to be part of that team right now, being a “helper” if I could. But it’s just not in the cards…

…and letters: thank you to the postal workers and couriers who carry on with their jobs, keeping the mail running and the precious packages coming.

To the ordinary folks who are calling “just to check in,” to volunteers who are doing what they can to help neighbours who are isolating, to those who are risking unpopularity by calling out stupidity and trying to bring attention to the ignorance of others who are endangering the rest of us.

To the police for enforcing rules when those stories of dangerous indifference (large gatherings) are everywhere. To the keepers of order in uncertain times, we thank you.

To the cleaners: the ones following our collective trail and spraying and wiping like our lives depend upon it. Because they do. I hope they know that their work is appreciated. To the restaurant workers who make sure we’re still getting our meals and the farmers whose work brings us that food.

To the Prime Minister for talking to us daily and delivering messages we need to hear and heed. For taking the time to directly address children, helping them to understand what our country, its people – their families – are going through, and need from them. Talking to them on their level; treating them with respect.

To other civic leaders – the mayors and premiers who take the weight of their positions and responsibility for our well-being seriously. And to the people who have put aside their usual political hatred or distaste just to be civil and to cooperate, including those in differing parties who are working together for the greater good. We need only turn on the TV to an American channel or look online to see just how good we actually have it.

It’s time we noticed it. All of us.

Thank you to the people who have earned high-profile platforms and use them for good – people like @ArleneDickinson, @JannArden, @LisaSLisson on Twitter, to name a few outstanding Canadian women – and who are trying to make our increasingly unsteady world just a little better with their wisdom, heart and inspiration.

And finally, a heartfelt shout of gratitude to anyone in health care today. They’re the moms and dads, sisters (like my own, Leslie) and brothers, sons and daughters who run towards the sick and give care instead of sheltering away from them with their own loved ones. The people easing pain, taking temperatures, saving lives and getting us through this pandemic – one mask, one thermometer, one answered call and question, and one swab at a time.

Every single one of them is a hero. You have always had our respect and gratitude, but never more so and in greater waves than right now. When the world has stopped wobbling on its axis and we can breathe freely again, I hope that we’ll all remember who was there for us.

These are the people on the front line putting themselves in harm’s way. For us. No matter for whom we cast a ballot, whom we worship, what colour our skin is, or even how carelessly we’ve treated our bodies over the years, and the past weeks. They’re here for us.

My gratitude – our gratitude – knows no bounds.

I’ll be back with you here tomorrow with a fun piece directly from my hairdresser to you.

Just a thought… When life is sweet, say THANK YOU and celebrate. When life is bitter, say THANK YOU and grow. [Shauna Niequist]

Well, thanks to so many of you, we made it through another black circle on the calendar. Three more to come and then summer. And how about this picture sent yesterday by my friend Nancy who went to the bench in Sidney, BC we couldn’t visit because of self-isolation.

There, she left a perfect, beautiful bouquet which we received later. She even looked up the flowers in Lauren’s wedding bouquets and corsages. I mean REALLY? Tell me please you have someone in your life this kind, loving and thoughtful. When even family forgets, it eases the heart to know that there’s someone like her in our lives. And we are grateful.

We’ll do this – just as millions of people are managing their own troubles every day, around the world and in our neighbourhoods. Tomorrow is a #ThankfulThursday here. Like you, I continue to think about the front line workers, as I have been doing for weeks now. They are literally and figuratively the firefighters who run into danger while so many of the rest of us are safe, sheltering and anxious about the little and not-so-little things that keep us awake at night.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling extra anxious these days. The mere act of trying to order groceries online is just running headlong into a wall day after day. We’ll get through this. When isolation ends in 9 days we can only hope we’ll be able to get out to shop quickly and efficiently with gloves and plenty of distance.

We’re staying positive. We have food. We have each other, Rob and I, and Molly. We’re healthy, as are my Dad and sisters, relatives and friends and we have a beautiful place to call home.

Today, you’re going to see some of the view from this home (if the weather holds) and this face, too, if you can join me with Kevin Frankish at 7 pm EDT (4 pm here in Pacific Time) for a live chat as part of his nightly live broadcast. Kevin is, of course, everybody’s favourite former Breakfast Television host. 

It’s all about positivity and he calls it First Aid for Your Mental Health. There’s an episode here from Monday if you want to take a peek, to see what we’re going to be doing. Isn’t it a marvel that we can pull this off? (At least I hope that we can – we’ll cross our fingers.)

Just go to www.facebook.com/kevinfrankish and it should take you there; email me if it doesn’t. Again, it’s at 7 pm EDT and we’ll talk then.

In the meantime, as I was having a day yesterday (and you know why) – I got an email from a friend in Toronto who sent me this screenshot. I looked all day for a sign from Lauren (our medium friend Cyndi asked for one when she was out for a drive and saw three sand cranes – one apart from the other two – plus deer leaping in front of her car). Maybe David sending me this was my message.

I was humbled, amazed and grateful to see that Mourning Has Broken is a Staff Pick on the Toronto Public Library website e-book page. Thank you, David, for passing this along.

In the meantime, keep going.

Don’t let the dark thoughts in; don’t let the dark thoughts win.

Sobriety is hard but you’re worth it and I expect nothing less (she’d say).

And just keep spreading the message of “reclaiming joy,” no matter what.

That’s what I got yesterday. A stretch? Maybe. But today and always, we take what we can, and we are grateful.

Talk to you later today/this evening.

Just a thought… The world changes from year to year and our lives from day to day, but the love and memory of you shall never pass away. [Venny]

29 years ago today, we welcomed a baby girl who forever will be 24.

Today Rob and I will let this beautiful piece speak for us. Cello was one of Lauren’s favourite instruments to play, along with the piano, guitar and auto harp, with which she would accompany herself singing for hour-after-musical-hour in our home during her teen years.

I’ll be back here tomorrow. Take a moment to breathe, be thankful for those kids and grandchildren who are around the house and perhaps under your feet these days (if you’re extremely lucky) and enjoy this link to a piece posted on Facebook. It was one of our girl’s favourite songs and she performed it so beautifully.

How fortunate we were. Hallelujah, indeed.

Just a thought… Believe that all things are mentionable and also manageable. [Mr. Rogers]

Hello! Welcome to another week that is quite likely to feel like a month. We can do this.

To the most important things first: we’ve counted our toilet paper rolls and there are six. We’ll be fine. When we moved in three years ago we installed a bidet attachment in our bathroom, so that cuts down on paper use a whole lot.

I’ve been reluctant to tell you I have a bidet because that may well be TMI and might also subject us to judgment, but we’ve had them now the past four places we’ve lived. To some it sounds overly posh, but for many people (like in Japan) it’s as normal as having a sink. So there you go (just not in the sink).

Got a handy person in your house? You can order them online or get them at your big box hardware store. The heated seat is a lovely option, too. Saves having to get your servants to warm it for you first, as they used to do back in the day of stone toilets, like the ones we saw in Turkey on a trip a few years back. (You remember travel, don’t you?) 

As our travels ended and for obvious reasons, we didn’t bring booze home from California. Although Rob doesn’t have an allergy to alcohol like I do, he’s stayed solid in his support for me. I encourage him to imbibe when he wants, but he doesn’t want. But we did bring this.

Look at that low price! We bought it last year so that I could refill my little purse hand-sani for a trip to Vegas (whose strip was DARK Friday night for the first time since JFK’s assassination). Who knew this bottle would be more precious than Grey Goose vodka?

Speaking of which, there are lots of online meetings for those who are finding sobriety challenging these days. Now, more than ever, we need connection. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought well, maybe, but then I remember a million reasons NOT to drink, not the very least of which is that it compromises your immune system. Hugely.

I’m really tired of the constant tweets and memes about drinking. I get it. I haven’t lost my sense of humour (as you see by my posts). People want to escape and have an end-of-the-world party in their house every single day (that is, if they’re not stupidly having friends over)! But for God’s sake, it’s tough enough dealing with the everyday stress and anxiety.

I won’t, but I want to say Stop freaking tweeting about your wine/tequila/coronavirus cocktails and panicking over whether liquor stores are essential services. Some of us are just trying to get through this one day at a time.

I had a bit of an anxiety meltdown Saturday trying to find a store to deliver groceries; every one that has pickup (which we can’t do til the 2nd of April anyway – if we venture out then among the COVIDiots who refuse to take precautions) or delivery is several days’ wait.

Yesterday we got two angel drop-offs: Nancy and husband Charles from Sidney brought us five full bags from the grocery store. Right down to my Cadbury mini eggs! I could have cried. And then, there at our door were my aunt and uncle, who dropped off some flash-frozen fish they caught in northern BC last year. OMG! Halibut and chips tonight!

And just as I write this, another friend has offered to do our next grocery run. How lucky we are! We’ve offered the same to our neighbours who are in their 80s/90s and hope to be able to help them when we’re out and about. We all have to do our part and stay safe, keep a distance and yet build connections.

It hasn’t escaped our attention that knowing so very few people where we live (or at least knowing them well enough to ask for help or to expect an offer of it) has not been a good thing for us AT ALL. I always thought that if one of us was left here alone (permanently) we’d have few people to lean on.

Of course, I don’t think a pandemic figured into any of our “worst-case scenarios.” This is going to change a lot of people for good, and hopefully for the better.

I’ll be back here with you tomorrow, and thank you again.

Just a thought… In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep yourself busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive. [Lee Iacocca]

Anger? Nope. Energy? Oh yes!

This is day three of our self-imposed (and extremely necessary) isolation. It’s making my blood boil to read about people coming home from their vacations or winters down south and heading straight to the grocery store. My niece in Kelowna is one of those working to keep stores stocked. Can some people not think beyond themselves – ever?

One bit of wisdom I read said “Don’t act as if you have the virus; act as if I do.”

My angel friends here learned that a woman they had lunch with three weeks ago has tested positive for the coronavirus. She contracted it after they got together, so they’re in the clear (and since we were with them in California in the days right afterwards, so are we), but it simply drives home the fact that this is everywhere – including among us. People who should be self-distancing, and still are not, are playing with fire. And that’s people of ALL ages.

So….what are you up to? I’m keeping busy, while also spending too much time each day reporting bots on Twitter. (I guess this is where the anger, to which Mr. Iacocca’s quote refers, could come in.) They’re often easy to spot: they defend the orange Dear Leader, insult the media who are trying to get correct information to the people he’s lying to, and have a very recent Twitter join date.

The lazier ones of the estimated 30 MILLION bots out there also have no picture (unless they’ve lifted one from a real person out there somewhere) and their handles are followed by a string of numbers. That’s not to say that everyone without a pic and with just a bunch of digits is a bot; I’m talking about the automated spam accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and pretty much everywhere else, many of them created simply to disseminate lies.

I report and/or block them immediately but the spread of misinformation and your basic Faux News talking points – especially in these particularly perilous times – is infuriating.

Sure, there are those who believe Trump never said it was a hoax, didn’t downplay it from the get-go (as in two months ago when he got intelligence briefings) and is spouting hope and optimism instead of the doom and gloom of reality. He lies as often as he sniffs, and that – as you know – is a lot. And the daily attack-the-press conferences are simply rehashes of whatever he’s seen on Faux the night before or that morning.

Can all of this really be happening?

Anyway…back to being online, we’ve had time to do some searching and it appears that we can’t get groceries unless we call upon the kindness of friends or family: the stores that deliver are showing no openings for at least 9 days, which is pretty close to when our self-isolation ends (if we come out of it; who knows what the situation will be in a fortnight?).

Our freezer is full but I’m missing produce in a big way. Luckily our supply of snacks was limited to a half tub of frozen yogurt and some stale rice cakes. Last night we had quinoa that expired in 2015 (don’t ask me why we moved it with us in 2016 to BC). But at least it appears we won’t be gaining weight these two weeks. Thank goodness our angel Nancy is bringing us a few more supplies today. 

If you’re like me, you find part of the challenge is staying active without breaking self-isolation. How? Well, on Friday I logged 10,000+ steps on my FitBit (thanks, in part, to two lengthy phone calls). I walk while I talk and it’s a great way to add steps; when I sound a little breathy, I explain to people what I’m doing and to this point (at least as far as I know) no one has taken offence. At least I hope not.

Then I sat my butt down, wrote and recorded the script to go around an interview I did with marketing guru Terry O’Reilly for an upcoming podcast series for the Canadian Real Estate Association. So we got that got done. (I’ll let you know when it’s up so you can enjoy it; we’ve done it especially so that it’s not only of interest to realtors.)

Oh, and we binge-watched the entire second season of Barry on HBO on Friday evening. I think that was enough for the first day, don’t you?

You have a gentle Sunday – ours includes FaceTime with our sweet boy and his family who are safe and sheltered in Ottawa. I’ll be back with another journal tomorrow. Glad you’re here – glad we are together.