Lessons from Quarantine

     Saturday morning I met my friends from our church Sunday School class in the stadium parking lot near First Baptist Church. Our instructions were to bring our own coffee and bring our own chair. Of the twelve vehicles in the parking lot, ten were pickups and two of those were pulling trailers. As it turned out, the morning was breezy and in the 40s, but we talked and laughed, mostly laughed, for over an hour.

      I’m surprised how much I miss gatherings like this. I’m one of those people who is not only content being alone most of the time, but who go out of their way to insure solitude. For me, working from home under coronavirus quarantine has been easy. For one, being longtime empty-nesters, we don’t have any littles running around. Sam Williamson wrote to me: “Your quarantine sounds like heaven to me.” He is correct; it’s been an easier transition for me than for most of my friendly friends.

      What I miss most is mobility - going places to read and write and study and ponder. I do best when I can move around. I can withdraw into my own thoughts even in a noisy fast food restaurant, often better than I can in my own home. I’m trying to change that during this shelter in place era - trying to learn new patterns and routines and ways of living. So far, I’ve been only marginally successful at retraining myself.

      But even though I love being along, I also need people around me regularly - to bounce ideas off of, to ask questions, to tell stories to. Especially when teaching. We have now had four weeks of online Sunday School using Zoom, and while it is awkward and clumsy, it is better than not seeing each other at all. I have a coworker who told me to take online teaching another step and start videoing my lessons and put them on a YouTube channel and build a following. But I can’t see that working very well. I am not a good straight-ahead lecturer. I’m at my best as a teacher when I have live listeners who can make comments and challenges. I like the give-and-take that happens among seasoned friends.

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      Trying to take advantage of my time in our house, I spent last weekend cleaning out my closet. It is not a small task. When we built this house eleven years ago one of the few features I wanted was my own separate closet. And what we built was perfect. It is about ten by ten feet, has shelves and racks, and a small desk and rocking chair. It is my final hideaway, and I retreat there often.

      So while cleaning my closet I discovered a CD from a live concert in the summer of 1976, Continental Singers Tour E. I played bass trombone with Continentals during the summers of 1974, 1975, and 1976, and this CD was from my last tour. In 1976 I also played harmonica on one of the closing songs, "I'm Gonna Meet Jesus."

      I didn't remember who made the recording but expected our sound man put it on cassette. I do remember listening to the original while we were riding on the bus the next day ... and we were so impressed with ourselves. None of us, singers or musicians, had heard the complete sound, all summer. We held our breath and listened in awe to the whole concert.

      I posted the CD photo and a link to the music on a Facebook page for Continental Singer alumni, and I heard back almost immediately from Douglas Karl, a member of that tour. He wrote, “I think I made the CD. I recorded it on CD from a cassette that I had. (I was shocked the cassette was in such good shape) I have the audio tracks on my computer. I think I made some copies for some Xcons from that tour. Am I remembering that right?”

      When you’re on the tour bus together for three months it is inconceivable that you'll ever forget any of the names or details. But then you go back home to civilian life, and one year turns into five years, turns into twenty years, which turns into forty-four years ... just like that. I look at the photos and wonder, who were those people that I was so close to and why aren’t we still friends?

      Modern social media has been a true gift to me. I know some people see Facebook as a giant time waster, but for me, a proud introvert who cherishes solitude, it has helped me connect with old friends. That’s been especially true with many of my Continental Singer buddies … men and women I had long forgotten about.

      Once again, I was reminded how important personal relationships are to me. For all my talk of solitude, I cherish close friends and companions profoundly. I cannot function long all by myself, either intelligently or creatively. I need the back-and-forth exchange between time alone and time together.

      What a mystery, the way God made each of us. We are so different. We are so much alike.

      How about you? What have you been learning during these strange days?

“I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32