New perspectives

That discarded old wooden box can become the foundation for a Little Library offering books to the neighborhood.

No July Fourth Pet Parade this year? Creative neighbors got together to design our own neighborhood Fourth of July old car parade. With the map of the parade route and estimated ETA, we all had a grand time cheering our neighbors’ vehicles — some classic and some not-so-much. We had an opportunity to gather outside safely, talk to neighbors, and feel celebratory!

So while the pandemic has created much hardship it has brought opportunities for all of us to do old things in a new way or try things that we’ve never done.

The summer was a time of home and yard improvements for many of us. I loved weeding, clearing out and creating new outdoor spaces to entertain friends. Riding bikes, jogging, running, walking were great activities to release tensions and meet neighbors unexpectedly. But now the bikes are put away in the shed and the snowblower has center stage in the garage. As the rain and cold winds visit us, entertaining outside is much less attractive. The cool temperature was tolerable as I took a break outside, but when the wind came up I was COLD.

Not wanting to go back inside, I decided to check out our underused greenhouse. As soon as I stepped inside, the still air and sunshine lifted my spirits. My husband Mike soon came out to see what I was up to. There were two dusty chairs squeezed in among the shelves of dead plants and empty pots. Mike said he’d seen a greenhouse-to-entertainment-space conversion online. We looked at each other and got to work! After hauling old pots, little-used tools and dusty stuff out, we now had what we christened “the solarium.” After a lot of dusting and cleaning, we added a camp bed, blankets and pillows to create a new space to watch clouds, rain, snow and, with extra blankets, even the night sky.

So as I lie in my new solarium watching clouds chase each other across the sky, I feel thankful for new perspectives that let me see alternate possibilities. With just a slight shift of vision, unwanted junk can be transformed into whatever we can imagine. By limiting what we are able to do, the pandemic has also lured us out of old routines and offered us a chance to envision new alternatives.

 — Janet Russell, Bend

A beloved father

I am thankful for many things and people in my life after many years of ache and sadness. This is my father and me, four years ago … he came to visit me here in Oregon after I married another wonderful blessing named Bill and left California after 62 years there. He will be 90 in January 2021.

He still works as a landscaper in California, rides a motorcycle(!), has several hot rod-type golf carts, works on them and drives them around with his dog Gpee next to him. He also has a seat for Gpee on the back of his motorcycle. We lost Momma 10 years ago this Christmas, and this man has kept an upbeat outlook on life that is catching. I’m the oldest of three, and we are all healthy and doing good in life. Even in this sad pandemic. Father follows the rules and keeps in touch with us kids: me, Judi, monkey-in-the-middle brother Mike and baby sis Shelly — who is his right hand “man” at the moment!! She is always nearby to help with any need he might have. We keep in touch with his Grandpad that we bought him and pay for. When he calls me at 4 every morning, he has a huge smile and we start the day together with all the current news and other folderal things. He is a huge blessing, Mr. Phillip A. Gunderson … and I count my blessings daily for him and my family. I have so much to be grateful for indeed.

— Judi Davis

Home and family

I am grateful for a warm home, food on the table and a loving family to share all these things with.

— LaVonne Leger, Bend

A community that cares

I have been grateful for so many things during this eight months or whatever it is we have been essentially sequestered! I am grateful that I live where I can watch the birds and enjoy them each day. I am very grateful for the creative people who figured out new ways to do business — like Roundabout Books with its delivery to my front door! For that matter, I am very grateful for books; I had many waiting to be read, and Roundabout has sold me many new releases during COVID time. Thanks be to the grocery stores for the “early-bird” hours for seniors and vulnerable people, and to all those who are working so hard to keep shelves stocked for those of us at home. I am grateful that there are brave young people willing to keep on working on the “front lines” in our hospitals and clinics, on our fire and police forces. I am grateful that the money I save by cooking most of the meals we eat has been able to help various groups that provide food for those who have lost jobs and are food-challenged. I am grateful to live in a community where people care about each other, and I am happy to have moved here from Beaverton 19 years ago!

— Suzette Shoulders, Bend

‘Gifts in strange wrapping’

As times have gotten tougher, with greater challenges and suffering, I am grateful for the idea of “receiving gifts in strange wrapping.” It has been really helping me to shift my orientation, to harvest the gifts that are present amidst the sorrows and to see past my whining and fears to a way through. It has been a painful process, this coming alive again, like feeling the frostbite as your toes thaw out. And it becomes clear how much pain comes from being unwilling or unable to feel, especially vulnerability, which is THE foundation for trust and intimacy. Despite the pain of social divisiveness and fear for my own safety, I am grateful for every breath that tells me I can still be an anchor for hope and love in this world, through the frail human body I inhabit. I am grateful to begin to see my struggling country-fellows not as Deplorables that need to be nuked to the other side of the universe, but as my other selves. We are not separate. Many have been damaged irreparably from intergenerationally transmitted trauma and are carrying that for their lineages to be healed, up front and in our faces. And at this scale, it is healing we can only begin to accomplish together, focused and committed — to each other — over the long term.

I am grateful to Gramma Aggie (of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers) for her encouragement last year for during these times. She indicates that wholeness is here underneath the appearance of disharmony and decay — through a picture of humans joyously standing shoulder to shoulder to help their brothers are the Salmon who are lifted up the streams to be able to return to spawn and continue the circle of Life. She urges us to know we can work together to protect the water and all life. It has been a hard and precarious year, and I am grateful for the strength I have gained from all my teachers who encouraged me to face into the fear, never to shy from hard work, to act from a place of purpose beyond self and to learn to build resilience within myself and my country by doing the hard personal work of staying present instead of reacting or going numb. As they say, “you have to be present to win.” I am still afraid, and isolated and awkward and regretful, and many other emotions. But with you and all our relations, I am finding access to resilience, joy, serendipity and purpose in ways I never knew possible in such dark times. I am grateful for this life, and all Life in these hair-raising times.

— Rachel N. Smith, Sisters

Service, education, friends

I recently celebrated my 88th birthday. In that space of time, I can think of a multitude of things to make me feel appreciative. Let me begin with my loving and supportive wife. She has been my best friend without whom life would have no color. Also, I have been gratified to have been afforded a stellar education and served many years as an educator. My journey has been as a volunteer for many causes, service in the military and a musical performer. I am grateful for a loving family and true friends. I hope to follow the Yellow Brick Road to God’s Rainbow.

— Richard Asadoorian, Bend

People everywhere

I’m grateful for wonderful people. My work enables me to spend time with many people from around the nation. We are a land comprised of loving people who have rich life histories to share.

— David Nissen