Meg Evans

With no real-life rowing regattas this year, my husband and I have been taking part in a virtual “Row the Great Lakes” challenge hosted by USRowing. The participants row individually on an indoor rowing machine, on the water, or both, and enter their progress regularly on the challenge website. The goal is to row a distance that is equal to rowing all the way around the Great Lakes by December 1.

Although it’s certainly not the same as traveling to actual regattas and rowing with our friends, I am glad to see this challenge and so many other online events keeping people connected and doing fun things together. I stayed up way too late one night recently, watching parody music videos that reworked popular songs in light of how people are getting by this year. Goofy as they were, it left me in better spirits.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Since my husband took over the grocery shopping chore in March, we’ve been eating more hamburgers for dinner because that’s what he likes. We’re having burgers again today. At first I expected that it would get boring after a while, but so far it’s okay. He also has been patting out the burgers and putting them in the skillet, and they are good burgers, so I’ve decided to count them as a blessing and enjoy the moment. There will be plenty of time to get back to a dinner rotation with more variety in the future.

A coworker sent an email recently with this word-art, which goes very well here, I’d say:

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I was having an email conversation with a friend recently about how some things have changed for the better this year, even though it still feels like being a character in a bad zombie movie sometimes. She wrote that her family has been calmer and more focused since staying home, and I replied that my husband and I also have been feeling much more relaxed.

Giving myself permission to let things develop at their natural pace, without pushing myself to do more or feeling inadequate if I don’t yet have a clear sense of what to do, has made so much difference. Before now, I hadn’t realized how far I had gotten away from the simple enjoyment of being.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

We had rain most of the day—cool, steady showers that soothed the parched grass and perked up the drooping shrubs. I was glad to see it because we certainly needed some rain. But, at the same time, the dark clouds gave me a gloomy feeling. The lack of sunlight made it harder to distract myself with cheerful thoughts and get worries and doubts out of my head.

The storm had mostly passed over when I finished my workday, though, and the sun was coming out. The world looked bright and refreshed.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Since my husband started working from home in March, he has mostly taken over doing the grocery shopping. That took me a little while to get used to, although it’s clear that he does not mind doing it, because buying groceries always had been one of my chores.

Then I asked myself, well, why shouldn’t I relax and enjoy having the groceries just show up without any effort on my part, like everyone else in the family always did before now? After all, I’m just as worthy of being nurtured and cared for as anyone else.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

We’ve had a strange weather pattern in my area all week, with very hot midday sun followed by clouds and thunder in the afternoon, but no rain at all. It has me feeling jumpy, as if something is about to burst.

The power went off this afternoon for about a half-hour, interrupting both my work and my husband’s work, although it didn’t look like there were any storms nearby. I wish the rain would pour down in buckets and get it over with! But, as that doesn’t seem to be happening, I am reminding myself to just breathe, to be present in the here and now, and to enjoy the clear moonlit nights.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I live in a mostly quiet urban-sprawl neighborhood where deer and rabbits wander around, looking cute except when they eat the landscaping. We are close enough to restaurants and taverns with outdoor dining areas that sometimes, on Friday or Saturday evenings, music drifts through our bedroom walls. That generally doesn’t bother me because the music is not nearly as loud as our noisy old air conditioner before we replaced it two years ago.

And considering what has happened this year, I can’t complain at all. It’s good to hear something that is more like normal life.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

After my husband and I got finished with our work this afternoon, we started talking about companies not being in a rush to reopen offices. Instead, managers are reassuring employees that they won’t have to go back to the office before they feel comfortable with it, and that returning to the office will start with those who want to go back right away.

We both found ourselves wondering how companies will find enough volunteers to make reopening offices worthwhile. Not only are many people anxious about going out, they’re also getting very comfortable with the unhurried pace of working at home. No commute, no business clothes, and a more relaxed workday in general. Just being here in the moment comes easily.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

As with many families, my husband and I have been sharing our home office space for the past three months. So far, it has been going well, except for the occasional minor inconvenience of having online meetings scheduled at the same time.

My husband enjoys being able to take breaks from work and easily get exercise on the rowing machine in the basement (it’s a Hydrow, which has online workouts with video of instructors in real sculling boats). I also worked out over my midday break today. It feels more peaceful and relaxed around the house, even with everything that’s going on in the world. The lesson here, I would say, is that setting aside just a little more space in the day for doing happy little things can go a long way.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

After my husband and I got finished with our work today, we had a pleasant walk around the neighborhood. It was very good to see people getting outdoors and enjoying the summer weather. Then our daughter came to visit this evening. She is a nurse in Cleveland, and we hadn’t seen her since March, what with everything that has been going on.

Even when it seems like we are just doing ordinary things, there is always much in life for which to be grateful and joyful.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.