As I write this I’m suffering from my second covid infection in less than two months. It was just over 6 weeks ago I wrote that life can be random and unfair sometimes. My wife wasn’t even fully recovered from the previous one and is also infected again. This just sucks.
In this moment though I’m grateful for a spontaneous lunch I took with my wife exactly a week ago. I was supposed to be on a Zoom call for a community I’m a part of, but something made me decide not to connect and instead ask my wife if they wanted to do something. We went for a drive, and got some Chinese takeout, that we ate in our car together. We laughed and talked, holding our Chinese food and chop sticks, letting each other try the different options. It was the smallest of excursions, and yet made me feel good. It also served as our Valentine’s Day. We always take pleasure in subverting what holidays, anniversaries, or Valentines Day can look like.
A few days later Covid was back in our house, and our lives upended again, not knowing where this one will take us. It made me grateful for that spontaneous lunch that day. I’m glad I listened to myself.
Here’s what I’m learning: Maybe the real skill isn’t in avoiding life’s chaos, but in listening to those quiet impulses that lead us to moments of connection, even (especially?) when everything feels uncertain. That lunch has much more significance to me now.
I’m starting to wonder if these repeated challenges aren’t just teaching me about resilience, but about a different kind of strength altogether. One that’s found in small moments of chosen joy, rather than waiting for better days to arrive. Of finding gratitude in the smallest of things.
It makes me wonder how that might be a valuable skill to have in a world that seems to have lost its mind? Perhaps the real superpower isn’t being able to control the chaos – it’s being able to find these perfect little moments right in the middle of it.
When did unexpected joy last show up for you?
