UPDATE – HOW YOU CAN HELP
We’ve heard so much about other states and other communities overwhelmed by Covid cases. Now it is Vermont facing the toll of this pandemic.
Prior to Covid, Vermont’s rural communities already faced challenges with enticing doctors and nurses to work here. Now Covid is adding to the pressures.
Our hospitals, and everyone in them, are being stretched to limits that we have never seen before. They are taking care of the people we love, now it is time for us to take care of them.
Julie Kelley, Truly Jude Founder
“If you knew what I know about the power of giving you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way. “
Buddha
THANK YOU, TRULY
(ORIGINAL POST) Tears Spilled Out
I reached my breaking point last week.
It’s been 18 months since Covid started and there I was crying in my kitchen.
I felt broken and it felt like my little guy was broken too. I can’t even comprehend everything that must be worrying him.
Kindergarten Quarantine
He was in school for all of six days before someone got Covid and he got sent home to quarantine.
Day One felt okay. We cruised through school work.
Day 2 – The Emotional Cracks
The cracks started showing on Day 2.
He was really emotional and started crying over something that normally wouldn’t bother him.
We shifted.
His “school work” became collecting slugs in the yard and googling new information about them.
FUN FACT: Did you know that slugs hibernate in warm weather?
Questions of the Heart
It was that evening that I figured out how to get my 6-year-old to share what was worrying him.
I pointed to his heart and asked, ‘what’s going on in there?’
Julie Kelley/Truly Jude Founder
His response broke my heart. It also gave me insight into the feelings – deep down- that have our littlest humans worried during this pandemic. #covid #quarantine #trulyjude #faithfulparenting
Tweet
In there (he points to heart), it’s panicked that I won’t be able to go back to school.
My 6-year-old Son
When in Doubt … Go to Nature
My soul seeks nature when I need to ease my worry and my little guy is much the same.
He is his happiest towered by maples, climbing rocks and freeing his mind in the fresh, cool mountain air.
So, we went to our happy place and he lost himself in the best way.
It’s when he’s home, and there is a lull in activity, that the emotions of the pandemic – the unknowns, the uncertainties – fill our house with frustration, anger and tears.
Julie Kelley/Truly Jude
Angels Among Us – Nurses!
I’m a trained communicator and I find it hard to explain Covid to a young child. He’s smart enough to understand just enough and that makes the balance of what to say, and how to say it, hard.
“I’m scared.”
“I’m only going to roll down my window a little.”
6-year-old son waiting for Covid test in backseat of our car
easy to understand and, dare I say, funny, for my 6-year-old.
Thank God for the most wonderful nurse at NVRH in St. Johnsbury, Vermont! Melissa, the nurse doing the Covid test, wasn’t phased by my worried little guy. She knew just what would work to ease his mind!
“If you ever pick your nose, your finger is MUCH bigger than this Q-tip.”
He was surprised.
“We’re just checking to see if your boogies have bugs! That’s what we say!”
He cracked a smile. (I wish I’d had that line 3 days ago!)
“It’s ticklish! Try not to laugh.”
He smiled and it was over!
Grateful for My Community
Melissa was one of our angels this week. She made, what felt scary, less so.
Routine is part of what makes life less scary for little people. At one point in his quarantine, my little guy told me that he missed his walk to school.
There’s something so cathartic and soulful about taking steps, each day, toward a place that you love.
We Jumped for Joy
When we found out that he was negative, we jumped for joy ….
… for the friends he gets to see, the projects he gets to do with his amazing teacher … and, of course, the walk to school.
I’m sure we’ll talk about how many wasps our neighbor’s homemade bug catcher has in it and what flowers are blooming in another neighbor’s yard.
And, I’m sure he’ll skip down the sidewalk just like he normally does.
And, aren’t normal, ordinary, simple things really what make life so beautiful.
Truly,
Julie
Your. Soulful. Spaces.
Thanks Julie! Your writing always makes me happy.
Thank you! This makes me happy!
Hi Julie,
Melissa is my daughter and thank you for recognizing what an amazing person and nurse she is. I am so proud of her. I am also a nurse and worked at NVRH 1990-2000 in the ER. She has a calling to help others and meet them where they are in life. Thank you for sharing such a positive encounter in a very stressful time.
Brenda Dufresne-Benda
Good morning Brenda! It was my pleasure. These are hard days for everyone and it was truly a gift to have her come into our lives at that moment. Thank you for sharing a little more about Melissa and please thank her for us!
Thrilled you can return to walking to school with your little guy!
Thank you! I know you understand!
Julie,
This post brought tears to my eyes. Those days of quarantine at the start of the year were so hard and scary. My kids had the same fears your little man had. My big girl clearly remembers missing her last 3+ months of kindergarten and she often gets deep anxiety at the thought that it might happen again.
Thank you for sharing your heart.
Liz
Thank you for sharing yours! We do our absolute best to ease our little ones worries, but this has taken our “mom radar” to a new level as far as anticipating what they are feeling. I hope you’ll keep reading and sharing – I love hearing from you!