COVID ROADSIDE

One COVID day at a time, Don and I kept working through Spring 2020. We counterbalanced the nightly news with daily spiritual practices. For three months I had the luxury of contemplating pandemic as portal. Still, I lived in a steady state of low grade disquietude touching on flammable anxiety.

Then George Floyd’s death, it’s anguish, and aftermath took what was already upside down here and turned it inside out. I was stopped, gut tied and stuck. I witnessed action unfolding. People taking measure and making choices. I did what wise guides have trained me to do. I sat in discernment and waited.

Within days the monthly ezine from the President of Healing Touch International, Joel Anderson, arrived by email. He too was fumbling but suggested to all practitioners like me that we view maintaining a healing presence as an act of political defiance. Really? I am still pondering it, without the threat of tear gas or arrest. But he did move me to action.

As intense summer traffic in and out of the Ledges raised dust on our gravel roadway, I realized that I had a board on which to write. With some apprehension and grade school execution, I staked out “Your life matters” (south to north) and “All life matters” (north to south) for anyone to read. A compact roadside message board. 

I found a place for my public voice and an outlet for creative design. Two weeks later my sign trio was Imagine Another Way. Healing Beyond Borders remains the signature sign.

Today, amid rising covid numbers and ridiculous bad behavior all around me, I switched it out to  Wear a Mask Please (south to north) and Get Over It (north to south).

May you rest in a healing presence, healing beyond borders.

Jasper Love Update

Our seven-year-old broke 63 pounds last week! This definitely puts him in his fighting weight range and he is certainly feeling strong and energized. We consulted with a veterinarian nutritionist, Dr. Churchill, at UMN to see what might be next in Jasper’s wonderful world of food. We wanted to stabilize his weight without compromising his recovery and hoped to gain some recommendations for replacements in his all Rx diet.

Here is her recommendation. Jasper will continue to eat the same prescription food, just less of it as he steps down from his starvation correction portions. Oh, boy. I anticipate he may get a little cranky. :^)  And the other big change for him is crackdown on treats- even those organic dog cookies he loves. Now I’m thinking REALLY cranky.

Jasper and Bella each get a frozen kong whenever I drive away to work, 5 days a week. It’s been easy fun just loading them with nutritious, delicious, soothing snacks. Now I am asked to measure and apportion calories in the kongs I fill. Now who’s getting cranky? Ok I can do this and I’m sure I will be quick at it once I do the math. Sigh.

Jasper’s daily medications and supplements, and monthly vet checks and weigh-ins continue through at least 2020. So here we go. It’s a new reel of the Jasper love movie and thanks for staying tuned.

If you have already contributed to Jasper Love via a deposit to Boone Veterinary Hospital in our name, thank you. (Please note the hospital doesn’t tell me WHO donates, so YOU have to tell me to get a proper Jasper thank you.) If you are only able to wag along and pray with us, thank you, as well.

Invitations to dog walk remain open for summer. We can wear masks and social distance as we stroll. Bella is easy to walk and I’ll be just six feet away with Jasper. I can even take both leashes if you simply prefer to tag along. We would love to be with you and we know some quiet, nearly private places to go.