amazing grace

One month.

After some fumbling around I finally got the stream of the live concert by Andrea Bocelli this afternoon. His voice is enough to move me to tears at the best of times, but when he started singing Ave Maria, a rush of tears rolled down my cheeks as if to wash away the grief of a million people. So many have lost a family member or friend over the last few months that I cannot bear the thought of the sadness that has spread out across our world.

Amazing Grace… fresh tears… for them, for us, for the uncertainty. For his voice. For the empty streets all over the world. For people at home by themselves with no means to buy groceries for their next meal. For the loneliness of those alone. For my good fortune.

I was up bright and early (well, early, I wasn’t so bright) and had planned on making cinnamon buns from a new recipe. It didn’t use any precious yeast so I thought I’d give it a try. Let me prefix with the fact that I’ve maybe made cinnamon buns one or two other times in my life. The dough came together well, then weirdly went into the instant pot for a steaming sort of cook. Oh my. Lets just say that this recipe earned a rip and tear rating - rip and tear the printed copy of the recipe. Not so good - they were heavy and stodgy. Next week I’ll try a yeasty one.

After all the emotion this afternoon I felt purged and perhaps in a better place than I’ve been in for a few days… or so I thought… my brain was wandering around the future and settled on when we’d finally get together with my family members. I started crying again when I thought of hugging them… jeesh what a woos.

Last night before supper we ‘met’ with Trudi for a pre-dinner glass of wine. It was fun to have a face-to-face. Later we had a great visit with Olaf - 1 ½ hours passed at lightning speed! Tonight we visited with Kirsten, Shawn and my nice’ses.

We had a comfort food Easter dinner: black forest ham sliced thickly as if it were a real ham; scalloped potatoes out of a box like Mom makes; roasted asparagus. Comfort in its most fatty and salty incarnation.

Headline tonight: Death estimates have dramatically reduced with social distancing. Over 560,055 cases, with 22,090 deaths in the US. There are a total of 24,292 (23,318 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 713 (653 yesterday) deaths to date.

“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

  That saved a wretch; like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

  Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

  And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

  The hour I first believed!

The Lord hath promised good to me,

  His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be

  As long as life endures.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

  Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

  Than when we first begun.”