Can I Share Solitude? April 28, 2020
I read a recent Facebook post by a psychologist listing 25 ways to take care of your mental health during quarantine. One of them was to set aside some time each to day as a "retreat--30 minutes, she suggested, of meaningful solitude. On Sunday, I decided to take her up on her offer. If a psychologist was giving me permission to take 30 minutes to not grade, not homeschool, not Zoom, not discipline, not cook, not clean, not exercise, then I was going to take it. Even though it was 5:00 pm, which is usually when I start cooking dinner, I slipped happily into my king-sized bed with my newest book. I had been reading for exactly three minutes when Sam came in. "Can I read in here, too?' he asked, Judy Blume book in hand. He was already climbing up on the bed, so I said, "Sure." The soft sounds of Sam reading--his slow breathing, leathery page turning, occasional giggles--are as meditative as a spa water feature to me, so we read, side by side, calm and happ