"Whoa! Crazy!"

We are living through an historic event - the COVID19 pandemic. I've been self isolating at home for four weeks now, and while I would love to resume my normal routine, I also understand the need for everyone to remain at home in order to stop the spread of the virus.

Sadly, a friend of forty years has lost his fight with COVID19. His wife, another dear friend, also has the virus and is at home alone fighting her own battle. She's lost her husband, she is ill, she is alone... devastating.

With Alan's death, the pandemic became very real to me. Those cheeky memes no longer seemed quite as funny or clever. I felt helpless, sad, and even frightened. If it happened to Alan and Joanne, it could happen to me. Or Craig. To my children, grandchildren, and other friends. And so on.

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, a day I usually spend in Church and then with family. We celebrated the holiday very, very differently yesterday.

During the day, Vanessa, my daughter-in-love, sent me a video of Pony Pal Mila and Cowboy Lukie riding their rocking horses, knowing that that would make me smile. And it did, but it also made me think.

Cowboy Lukie is really riding hard, and at the end he says something. Did you hear it?

He says, "Oh, crazy!" as he stops his pony and dismounts.

Not only did that video make me smile, but it also made me think about the loss of my friend and this terrible pandemic that we are enduring. Don't we all want to cry, "Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" like Cowboy Lukie does? And things ARE crazy and will probably remain that way for some time until we can begin our new normal.

But the video also made me think about how life goes on despite its challenges and scary moments. Cowboy Lukie and Pony Pal Mila are evidence of that. Their world will be changed by the pandemic, but we will find a cure, the pandemic will end, and life will go on.

Keep on riding, Cowboy Lukie.