We’ll get up again
turn down the news
turn up the laughter
share the knock-knock jokes, the ones that have no punch line
but bring fits of giggles nonetheless.
We’ll make beds and breakfast
pack lunches and feed the animals.
We’ll make a casserole
and drop it with a note to a friend
Thinking of you.
We’ll make tacos and buy chips and salsa
deliver them to the family with a new baby
Welcome to the world, sweet one.
We’ll make phone calls and handwritten notes
delight in children’s scribbles, a cascade of rainbows and hearts.
We’ll open doors and windows
listen to birdsong
watch the cardinal perch on the evergreen bush
the bees and butterflies hunt for nectar,
nature gently reminding us that seasons come and go.
We’ll plant flowers and scatter seeds
water the vegetables and pray for fruit.
We’ll weed and till and weed some more
we won’t give up on that tiny bean shoot
and marvel at the cucumber vine’s tendrils
climbing the trellis.
We’ll gorge ourselves on fresh tomatoes
bag them for neighbors
make homemade sauce
indulge in the goodness of summer.
With a resonant chorus of:
Thank you.
You’re not alone.
Let me help.
We’re in this together.
I love you.
We’ll put one foot in front of the other
We’ll cling to prayers as if our lives depended on them,
as if our hope for the world insisted on them.

This is how we’ll live with hope.

The words of Kimberly Knowle-Zeller