April (Spring) 2020: Life in Photos, One Full Month in Quarantine

So, birthdays and holidays during a pandemic are certainly interesting. In Tobias’ family, the big birthday month is March. With my family, it is April. Because of this pandemic, we saw no one for these celebrations. Even Easter. Everything is so weird.

We’re able to celebrate from a distance by being in this together. It will be worth it once restrictions are lifted and we can hug our friends and family and celebrate in-person instead of over face time. Despite being stuck inside, I had a lovely 33rd birthday at home thanks to Tobias, and my family and friends made it special from afar.

We are all experiencing many emotions over this period of social distancing, and they come and go with ups and downs like hills and drops on a roller coaster. I’ve had some very hard days where i grieve normalcy and I’ve found that while I am an introvert, I do miss human contact with my loved ones. I feel very lucky to be safe at home with Tobias and the pets, at the end of the day I feel extremely blessed to be “stuck” in my favorite place. I worry about the world and everyone struggling through this right now. It’s a difficult fight we’re all in together. My heart hurts over human loss, selfish actions of others, and the politicizing of this pandemic. All in all, I’ve found overall people are really coming together and keeping each other safe—that’s a good majority to have during this ride that is 2020.

I’ve really come to find peace and happiness in the simple joys, and through gratitude journaling I strive to find something good everyday. I know I’ll leave this with a better sense of appreciation for these simple joys and core aspects of my life. It’s been a lovely thing to find.

As far as creative projects go, I’ve been helping a good paranormal friend and colleague of ours, Lon Strickler (Phantoms and Monsters), re-publish his books. His newest book Winged Cryptids is out right now and I’m working on the second of three we are re-publishing under Singular Fortean Publishing. Secondly, Amazon has halted production on apparel for the time being which affects Singular Fortean’s merchandise shop. I’ve set up an interim shop on TeePublic for those who might be looking to purchase our apparel. It has a few of our most popular designs and I plan on adding something special for a limited time later this week (I’m writing this May 3rd) so stay tuned for that.

Lastly, I’ve been continuing to find much joy in gardening and all the plants coming back from a winter’s sleep. I have my garden set up for planting and am preparing for the return of the Monarch butterflies. I love this time of year, and with the weather being warmer I’m loving being out in the sun growing my own food and native plants to help our pollinators. We have another month of “Shelter in Place” in Wisconsin, and I’m feeling okay about it with summer on the way and all of this to look forward to.

Be well,

~Emily