Who's Getting Us Through It?

I'm off (in more ways than one)

Good thoughts come from letting our mind stray. Bye all

Safe and sound, in mind and body!

Parker, good luck with the essay! I'm going to take some time away from my computer, but will check my email after dinner Lloyd - thank you! Peggy, I think you may have signed off, but it was really great to have you and Susan here too!

Colleen, check your email for light and fluffy!

Just wondering - Susan, are you still here?

Oh, I can send you some light and fluffy. But unfortunately they are currently all on my cellphone and I don't know how to report them onto my desktop. I need some like Parker to come (oops, no you can't come into my building!) and help me with my electronics.

That being said, I think humour is a good survival mechanism. Where are you finding sources of levity right now? Are there any particular comedians/shows/books any of you can recommend? I know that a lot of the humour these past few weeks has tended towards gallows humour, and it can feel wrong to laugh at something so serious. But as they say, "If you don't laugh, you'll cry."

Thinking is tiring, and articulating thoughts is tiring. The thing about right now is, there aren't a lot of light and fluffy conversations going on.

Since I have a calendar on line I keep being reminded about meetings or get togethers I can no longer attend.. For example, no more choir rehearsals, but my calendar doesn't know that and I presume they will eventually restart.

It's harder for me to keep track of all the different aspects and threads.

Lloyd and Peggy, you both make good points. I also appreciate the fact that, even if we don't have the same concerns, we take one another's concerns seriously.

If I can circle back a bit, do you find yourselves experiencing any screen exhaustion from conducting so much of your social interaction remotely? My phone tells me that my screen time was up 78% this past week. And I'm not watching a lot of shows or playing games online. That primarily represents the amount of time I'm spending video chatting or conferencing. Yikes!

Sometimes our innate conversations lead to deeper thoughts. That’s just us!

I'm not sure that we have gone off on tangents today. You asked what we're doing and the responses are telling you. We're just not on the same wavelengths. And perhaps we don't hare the same concerns.

And, for Parker, it'll provide a nice contrast from writing an essay. No need to streamline your thoughts here! Basically, we have some stream of consciousness writing happening.

It's not the first time this group has gone off on tangents in our conversations! I think the circle about fads and trends showed us just how easily we can shoot off in different directions. It's all good.

On really important (to me anyway) issues, I am fortunate to be in touch with port chaplains all across North America. Our Exec Director send out regular and irregular news letters and he's very tech savvy ... I just the other day watched an interview he coordinated between the Lutheran port chaplain in NYC, the port manager in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a RC chaplain from I think it was Louisiana. They tell of how their ministries have changed in that the seafarers cannot leave their ships and the chaplains can't visit them aboard, either. Yet the ships still visit North American ports.(except those on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Shipping stops currently at Montreal.

I've also been asking myself daily, what action can I be taking during this time of inactivity. One of my strengths is my writing skills, and since we are now needing to lean more heavily on writing as a means of communicating, what can I write that will make a difference?

Thanks to Parker a new topic has opened up.