Love Trails

I went on a walk today. The sun was warm, the sky the brightest of blues, the breeze cool on my neck. I walked with my sister and my sweet daughter-in-law (don't worry, they're all sweet). We took our time just enjoying the fresh air and being together, even if we were careful to stay far apart from each other as we walked. We took the mile loop around South Medford High School, breathing in the scents of trees and flowers in bloom. I found myself longing to hear the crack of baseball bats and the soft thud of baseballs hitting leather. But the neighborhoods around the school are relatively quiet, and school has been cancelled until the end of April, maybe longer. I think about the high school Seniors who will not get to go to prom, or walk in a graduation ceremony, or savor the last days of school with their friends. I think about the empty classrooms and echoing halls of this beautiful school, and I'm sad.
The three of us nod and smile and say hello as we pass fellow walkers, all of us making eye contact, all of us polite and silently grateful. We continue around the loop and talk about everything and nothing and just enjoy the moment.
Someone had left chalk messages on the sidewalk all around the school. "BE JOY" and "You are a blessing" and this one, "You are loved" and it brought tears to my eyes. Messages from someone who longs to connect and encourage, writing notes to those who may be walking and feeling sad.
It's easy to get caught up in the wretched stories of people hoarding supplies, and tempers flaring in the midst of long lines, and of people being generally unkind. But I am careful to remind myself that for every one of those stories, there are dozens of the other kinds of stories - you know the ones. The stories about people setting up community supply tables in their neighborhoods and offering what they have to their neighbors. The stories of people singing together, and being kind to strangers, and rallying behind their little neighborhood shopkeepers.
They say there is a difference between loneliness and solitude, and I hope to discover ways to be good company for myself in the coming days. But for today, for a little while, I was encouraged by my fellow walkers - those who walked beside me and those who came before me. May we all leave a little love trailing behind us.