I miss my “old” normal! November is the month that I write about the Naperville Garden Club’s Cup of Cheer™ House Walk, Holiday Market and Tea that has been a much-anticipated holiday event for over 50 years. It has always been a delightful start of the holiday season and, as scholarship chairman, I especially appreciate its success that enables us to give scholarships to local students. This fall, eight students received financial support from the Naperville Garden Club. Cancelled this year due to COVID, I miss seeing my garden club friends and the fun we have getting ready for our major fundraiser. I worry about how we will raise funds to continue our scholarship program that means so much to the students.
In spite of this, I assure you that I try (and I encourage you to, too) to find something positive and joyful every day. Many people that I talk to also have something else besides COVID affecting their lives – COVID plus 1 (or two or three). Here’s mine. Kent came down with West Nile virus that landed him in the hospital with encephalitis and meningitis. Most people infected with West Nile virus don’t develop any symptoms, and only a few of only 30 reported human cases in all of Illinois, with various levels of distress, as of October 14, 2020 are affected like Kent. After a month in the hospital where the doctors played whack-a-mole as a different organ ran amuck almost every day, he is in rehab downtown Chicago getting stronger every day.
- Making a point to find something good every day, here’s part of my ever-growing list:
- The fall colors are especially beautiful this year.
- FaceTiming with my friends and family is fun.
- Hospital food is actually quite good.
- We are fortunate to live where we do/when we do to have such wonderful medical care.
- The support from our family and friends has helped us through the scary times.
- Kent got sick when it’s a bit more convenient (most gardening chores are over) than it might have been.
