Tuesday, April 7, 2020
My mom is 86 and my dad is 91. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in January and they live in the same house they bought 60 years ago. They are tough British ducks those two. Stay calm and carry on is their philosophy in life. I hear it in their voices every day when I call them to see how they are doing.
For years I have always kind of laughed about how much food my mom stores in her house. Her fridge, 2 freezers and cold storage room are always fully stocked. She buys carrots every fall and put them in pails of sand and stores them for use over the winter. She freezes fruit from one summer to use for the year until the following summer. She has an abundance of gin, tonic, scotch and other drinks in case people visit. And of course she has a good staple of canned goods. She never wastes anything and always cooks full homemade meals.
I’ve always known that her preparedness is related to her living through World War 2 where she had very little and watched her parents ration and share with their neighbours. I know my mom has lived her life being prepared in the case of an emergency. And so now I am in awe of their ability to be self reliant. As we are start week 4 of our social distancing my parents are strong. My mom is baking pies with her stored fruit from the freezer! She is making her granola with the maple syrup she has on her shelves. And on it go’s. She is positive and completely confident that we will all get through this challenging time. She and my dad haven’t left their house in 4 weeks, and you might remember that my mom works full time and her boss had to kick her out of work midway through the first week of isolating. Although it was hard for her to accept that she couldn’t work, she knew its was the right thing to do. I was sure my mom would go crazy being at home full time but she once again surprised me with her acceptance of the situation and her willingness to make the best out of it. It is such a gift to my sister who lives in Vancouver and worries about them and wishes she was closer, and to me who is hunkered in Haliburton. My parents have incredible neighbours and friends who get their fresh produce and other things they need and for that I am forever grateful. It takes every one of us doing what we can in little part of the world to get through this virus. We all need to have confidence and faith in our health care, our government and in each other. This too shall pass.
On a closing note The Haliburton Folk Society is offering another night of music for you in the comfort of your own living room. This is guaranteed to brighten your spirits! The HCFS is developing a live-streamed concert series featuring local musicians. Two of the expected four concerts are scheduled for April 11th and 25th at 7:30pm and will be live-streamed from the CanoeFM Radio Hall on the Haliburton County Folk Society Facebook page. April 11th features Albert Saxby while April 25th features Cassidy Taylor.
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