Hope & Resilience
Spring is in the air, but this year it feels different. Like many families, we filled the last two years of the pandemic with movie marathons, game nights, and long hikes. Now life feels as if it is slowly, carefully, opening up again. While I’m ready for whatever the new normal looks like, I don’t want to lose these activities. Family game night and Sunday hikes are here to stay in our household.
I’m not the only one who discovered a positive side to quarantine. We asked for your thoughts and were overwhelmed with stories of the ways you found a bright side in these tough times. You can read some of our favorites in “Pandemic Silver Linings” on page 84. Elsewhere, we looked at the families who got out of the house and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains to see the dazzling light show created by rare fireflies (page 96). Of course, there’s no one better to talk about the great outdoors than legendary conservationist Jane Goodall. She writes about finding hope in nature in our excerpt of her latest, The Book of Hope (page 70).
This issue is as much about resilience as it is about hope. In “I Survived” (page 58), we hear from people forced to fight for their lives in incredible situations, from being swallowed by a whale to trapped in quicksand. We also talked to brave nurses who are struggling to carry on after the past two years in a health-care system that’s pushed to the brink (page 74).
We’re also introducing a new section, The RD List, where we’ll talk about books, movies, and more (page 109). Consider it a place to find recommendations for family movie night or your book club, which, fingers crossed, will soon return to meeting in person for the first time in a long time.