The day, soon, will come when most will resume life as normal. They will eat their morning cereal and glance at headlines, they will get into their cars or into subways or trains and return to their jobs with the usual passion or disdain of an ordinary day. Campuses and churches will reopen and store shelves will be fully occupied. During this time, the temptation to relegate our feelings about fear and loss and potential disaster will be compelling. But, if we are wise we will remember the empty shelves and the fear of respirators. We will turn back toward the cessation of life as it once was, toward the losses that the viral pause will have left in its wake. Remembering these feelings will help us help others. If we are wise, we will remember the importance of words unsaid love untold and lives unlived. And we will love more fiercely, care more deeply, take more time for things that matter, and value nature and animals more. We will remember to extend unlimited compassion to those who know, firsthand, what it is to have life change in an instant, those rememberers for whom life will not resume as normal. Rather their lives remain changed by the absence of a much-loved someone who died. They can never create new memories and 'normal' has little meaning. When the day comes, and it will, that the world quickly calls us back into the fold of life-as-it-once-was, please refuse the invitation to forget. Unfreeze slowly, intentionally, and with more kindness. Take your time, do not rush. Allow the earth to inhale humans back into her fold and, for that grace, bring forth wakeful compassion for all those who suffer, and for all the animals with whom we share the earth, and for the earth itself. Let’s not go back to how it once was. Let’s listen to Dr. Maya Angelou’s admonition: We can be better. We can do better. When that day comes and life resumes, be better, do better for our hurting world. Said with kindness and hope for a more compassionate world for all who suffer catastrophe, Dr. Jo www.CenterForLossandTrauma.com ***** Photo is at our The Selah House Respite Center and Carefarm taken from the gathering room window two evenings ago. The Selah House is a compassionate community where grief and love, pain and beauty intersect with nearly 40 animals also rescued from abuse and deprivation. You can learn more at www.SelahCarefarm.com