Who would have thought?

Donna Faye said:

Good things to do

The summer after my divorce, I was home alone as the kids were all working or on trips. I did not want to go out as I was still hurting and being the 3RD bird or eating or going to a movie alone was not for me. So, I decided to buy some scrapbooks and make one for each child as I had tons of saved stuff. It proved more fun than I imagined and i wrote short notes on every page to help them remember the event. Then when I was going through chemo 7 years later, I made scrapbooks for my grandson and to my grands yet unborn. It was so much fun 10 years  later reading and talking about them to my grandsons now born. I also journal and write short vignetts in emails. This time of isolation has been easier as I am living with 2 men who treat me so well - cooking great meals and watching Acorn TV, my favotite. You will also see that many theaters- not movie ones - are offering plays on things like FB. American Shakespeare in VA is offering A Midsummer's Night Dream at 1:45 today! My grandsons introduced me to Zoom last night and we had fun chatting that way. I also do coloring and many museums are offering free printable pages to color. And, the best of all, write letters again! I wrote all my grandsons and asked them to journal as this is a time in history their children will study in school.  I also wrote notes to friend who are alone offering a phone call when they need to hear a voice. I know at my age (80 in 3 weeks) this is easier. I love to read and I have a little dog who needs walking and cuddling. May we all soon see the end of this and remember this as a time we learned to be alone with and learned much about  ourselves.

My genealogy hobby is a welcome escape from coronavirus when I need it and your scrapbooking will indeed be a treasure for future generations, especially if you label everything with names, dates, and with what the pictures are all about. Be sure to include complete names instead of just "Bill and Maud" or "Uncle Joe".  I had a great Aunt who did that (except for the complete names!) and her scrapbook has been very helpful, especially as regards a trip she took to Europe to re-connect with family that did not emigrate to America. It's been a puzzle to untangle who's a relative from those who are friends, but it keeps me busy trying to figure it all out. What you have created is treasure for your family to cherish for a long time to come. 

I, too, have been busy calling some of my elderly relatives that are in nursing homes. Some have memory issues, but the issues are more with short-term memories. They are quite able and delighted to share stories with me from before I was born or when I was too young to pay attention to family relationships with people who are now gone. We are both helping each other to keep our minds off of the virus and having some kind of social interaction safely with each other. It's fun!

This is a tough time to be an otherwise outgoing person active with a large social circle, especially if you are living alone. This is going to go on for more than a week or two, so it's important to find things that give you purpose, enjoyment, or a sense of accomplishment. It just isn't going to be healthy to dwell too much on the news about the economy or virus, so DF's suggestions are a good place to start for each of us to figure out what we can do to cope.

I'm both happy for and jealous of you!