FROM THE EDITOR
There are five of us in our big-little house. We call it that, because when the kids are here, it feels full and small. And when they are gone, it feels big and empty. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that was also nice sometimes. This week we sat around the dinner table and talked about being together for a month, in isolation. It may be longer, we said. We talked about how we could all keep each other from climbing up the walls and decided we would hold our own Olympics, with each person setting their own challenge. So far, Daisy: a Tiktok challenge (Mum, can you body roll? Answer: I will lose for sure). Isaac: an ollie (I will lose for sure); Freddie: play Beethoven’s Ode To Joy on the piano (I will lose for sure); Chris: the eagle pose (I will lose for sure); mine: who can put their head in the compost bin (they will lose for sure). We are a blended family with a weekon, week-off custody arrangement. When our children return to their other homes, parents, siblings, pets, routines, they move into another bubble. This week we talked about not having close, physical contact with those other important people. We are okay with that. This is the right thing to do, they said. This week I read a post by an epidemiologist who said, time and time again, throughout history, scientists have urged people to social distance to avoid the spread of a virus and, time and time again, they have been ignored. Tragically, the inevitable happens. So despite the inevitable sadness at separation from all connections, people we love, the greatest, most Olympic challenge for us all, in our home and for everyone, is to not overthink the unknown. As Nick Cave writes this week in his online musings, The Red Hand Files, we are faced with a common enemy. “From within the clamour and tonnage of information and misinformation, of opinions and counter-opinions, of blame-games and grim prophecy, and the most panic-inducing version of Imagine ever recorded, emerges a simple message: Wash your hands and ... stay at home.” There is a Maori proverb: E hara taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini. My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective. Stay well — and here’s an eyebrow raise to you all.