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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal> What to Do?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Marcia J. Wick, The Write Sisters<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>April 2020<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Word Count: 252<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>What to do? What to write? Check my email. Check the headlines. Walk the dog. Walk in circles. Call a friend. Call a neighbor. Surf the web. Search the fridge. Wash my clothes. Scrub my hands. Use my phone. Touch my face. Can’t think straight. Can’t quite focus. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Humorous emails distract me. Horrendous statistics distress me. I’m encouraged by recoveries. I’m inspired by resilience. I worry about the future. I’m dismayed about the past. I would like to vote for Andrew. I would like to vote for change. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I was born after the holocaust, the Great Depression, two world wars, and a civil war. I was born white, privileged, insulated, and naive. We’ll survive, or we won’t. Dad is old. My granddaughter is but a babe. I hope the climate will recover. I pray the wildlife will forgive us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I am grateful for shelter and food and family. I am worried for family and friends and myself. I focus on one day at a time. I count my blessings. I pray for grace. I hold on. I let go. I reconcile with friends. I forgive enemies. I enjoy relief from traffic, enriched by bird songs.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I dream…a screened-in patio, I eat and sleep in the fresh air, I read and write to my heart’s content. A guide dog is asleep at my feet, an old cat is curled up at my side. The song birds call. A “new normal” is established where we drive less, consume less, walk more, and share more.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal># # #<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>