Last night it was announced New Zealand will be closing within the next forty-eight hours. My nephew lives there and I haven't seen him in over eighteen months. My sister and I were planning on visiting him, or perhaps meeting him and his girlfriend in the U.K., in June. Obviously that is off, which makes me sad. But somehow knowing he cannot leave NZ and no one is allowed in feels devastating. The adage "distance makes the heart grow fonder" can pound sand. Family that once were accessible by car or plane might as well live on Mars. Friends and co-workers that we'd see regularly are now literally out of reach.  I think the news of NZ closing hits me particularly hard because I feel helpless. If my nephew were to need me, or his mother and father, we couldn't get to him. We certainly couldn't get him home. I have to remind myself that he's twenty-six years old. Post-college he has lived in China and Vietnam and is obviously a courageous, industrious and self-supporting man. "I'l......

Read More of To Everything There is a Season...

[Read More...]