Missing Moments

April has now passed, to mostly everyone's relief. It was a complete month of quarantine for much of the world, with not doing much of anything except staying in the house. I cancelled or rescheduled a few appointments, but hope to get them done soon.

My first cancellation was a hair cut on April 2. I normally get a trim every four weeks and like keeping my hair short. Now, it has been over eight weeks since getting my ears lowered and they are starting to hide. I've seen some people take to desperate measures and do their own hair. I haven't gotten to that point, yet, but look forward to getting my normal due back instead of the current don't.

The second item that was skipped was my Botox. I get Botox injections in my right arm to reduce muscle spasms and help protect the wires and plugin for my diaphragm pacemaker. However, the drug dissipates and needs to be updated every three months. Now that I'm nearing four months without a boost, I am noticing my arm pull into my chest more when it shakes. I'm trying to make extra sure everyone keeps a pillow on my side for protection, but some of my caregivers don't. Thankfully, I haven't had any major issues, but hope I don't need to wait through July to get an update.

It wasn't scheduled, but I normally speak to a class of third graders in Des Moines in April. With schools meeting virtually, I didn't try to contact the teacher. However, I miss working with the students and seeing how they react to Mr. Joel's way of writing and interacting with God's world.

Finally, I miss getting out to church every week and fellowship with fellow believers. Watching praise songs and sermons online is handy, but not in the spring when I'm able to get out again.

In Iowa, the state is now slowly opening up again with restrictions on occupancy and keeping groups separated. My church is planning to try a regular service again in a few weeks, but my family isn't sure if we'll head out by then or not. Living the quad life has challenges, and a global pandemic doesn't help. However, I continue to be thankful for God's protection and the ability to still keep active while sheltered in place.