Friday August 28, 2020
Lizzie Bristow
Persevere
Me, my mom, Sarah Hamill, my sister, Maggie, my daughter, Hannah and my niece, Sophie at Hannah’s graduation from Portsmouth High School last June 2019.
It’s hard to write about the word perseverance outside of the context of the pandemic. These past 6 months have been many things — overwhelming, exhausting, frightening, depressing. But perseverance is everywhere — in a determined and beautifully stubborn way.
I got to visit with my mom the other day, in her room, for the first time since February. We have seen each other two other times in person, when I have brought her to the doctor and we snuck in lunch together in the car.
Talk about perseverance! My mom has lived under the most restrictive state guidelines for the quarantine, spending many, many weeks quarantined to her room.
My sister and I, and our families, have spent these months doing what we can to support my mom. We have talked with her on the phone and Skyped. We’ve written letters and sent care packages. I would stand in the parking lot and wave to her as we talked on the phone. We have run through the seasons of fresh fruit, delivering rhubarb and strawberries in the Spring and now blueberries and peaches. And as the restrictions slightly lifted, there were awkward visits from the car.
My mom has not had her hair done in months, so has started wearing a scarf stylishly as a hair band, she dresses nicely every day and puts on jewelry. And when all physical therapy and exercise classes were cancelled she started walking laps in her room. She tried hot dogs for the first time in her life and discovered she liked them, and in March when the drinks cart started coming around at 5:00 she decided to try something new and had half a Corona beer. She’s been enjoying one every evening since.
When we visited last week she showed me a prayer that she had recently found. It was neatly typed and glued to a piece of construction paper. She said she didn’t know where it came from but it was like God sending her a message. We both agreed, it’s an encouraging way to say: persevere, it will be okay, God is with you.
Dear Lord,
Help me to live this day
Quietly, easily;
To lean upon Thy great strength
Trustfully, restfully;
To wait for the unfolding of Thy will
Patiently, serenely;
To meet others
Peacefully, joyfully;
To face tomorrow
Confidently, courageously.