My county in upstate New York was officially “opened up” today, which means I can move about freely with a mask, avoid crowds (there hasn’t been a crowd in my town for many years), and sanitize myself a lot.

Will do.

The full opening will come in several gradual phases – no restaurants or movies quite yet, my doctor is examining me by video next week from home.

Things are hardly normal, but they are quasi-normal, or at least normal is peeking around the corner. Maybe.

Opening up means a lot more to me than the coronavirus.

Opening up has been the challenge of my personal and spiritual life, of my marriage, my friendships, my relationships versus the world.

An opening is a pathway to love. Love is supposed to be based on trust, and trust on love. It is difficult and rare for me to confide in another without fearing the response.

I learned early on to be careful about who I trust. I am learning to trust the people I care about.

I can’t just turn off my anger, sensitivity,  and caution, any more than I can turn off all the lights in the farmhouse, and still expect to see where I am going.

Opening up is a metaphor for me, I think in many ways my whole life is about opening up.

I see it is a process that never really stops, and the opening up of my county, I sense, is the beginning of another phase of my life, not the end.

I’m working hard to open up, literally and figuratively. When I get past my ego, I win, it is really as simple as that.

I have several friends who are doctors, and this virus has frightened the wits out of them, even as our leaders insist it’s no big deal, go out and get drunk.

What awful choices we are given, I would always prefer to root for the truth, once I figure out what it is.

If I do, I will let you know.

The virus, even as we loosen up our restrictions, has opened me up a great deal. It has expanded and focused my work with the Army Of Good. It has solidified, my relationship with Maria.

It has deepened my understanding of some friends. It has given me the opportunity to help get food to people who, through no fault of their own, are hungry. It has led me to help make the Mansion safer for the residents.

It has also opened up a channel in my past – led me to try to help people understand the sometimes terrifying political crisis of our country. I didn’t need a governor to help me do that, but it took a Pandemic to move the process along. Thanks for sitting in on this remarkable journey, which is not over yet.