As the election season heats up to its grand finale, CV19 has taken the main stage as to who wins, who loses. Those who have lost a loved one to CV19 know there are no winners or losers in this pandemic. We who have survived its grip know in our innermost being that to overcome the duality of good/bad, life/death, have to find the peace of mind that surpasses understanding, fact, truth or reality presented to us in this limited world.

The word Balance comes to mind. Learning to live a balanced life requires accepting all the ups and downs presenting every year, month, week, day and moment.

The pandemic teaches me to seek balance and revere it in my life. Slowing down purposely happened immediately after Tomaso’s passing, and continued when the US government slowed down and stopped. Now I consciously slow down as a way to reveal meaning and purpose in my life.

I am a Labor Delivery nurse, working mainly with the Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Balance is the Amish way of life coupled with gentle kindness, harmony with God, community and family. They have many children, with large extended families, live in a separate world which intersects with ours during business hours. Otherwise, they know balance, slowing the pace, reverence for the calm that surpasses understanding.

I regularly witness birth, the very first breath of life: the first breath, the in breath. Tomaso’s last breath, the out breath. The full cycle of life involves balancing all the breaths in between. OM