Whatever He Says

I walked through our village this summer evening, listening to the rustle and whisper in the treetops--the delicate leafy applause that seems spontaneous, as though an unseen hand or the trees themselves are giving their branches a gentle shake. The world is “opening up,” and this is the first weekend where we may gather in circles of chosen friends and family members. The village hummed with groups of people in backyards, and front lawns, revelling in the sudden delight of those beyond their immediate household. It was after attending church on March 15 that I stopped at a grocery store for a few last-minute necessities. Everywhere store shelves were suddenly empty of pasta, cereals, all kinds of dry goods, and especially paper goods like toilet rolls. It felt as though a storm was on the way and we were battening down the hatches! For several weeks, we've followed the instructions of government officials to stay home unless we had an urgent need. We soon became famil...