“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been so excited about and supportive of the #WindowsofLight project. (This is obviously not a WOL photo—it’s from a newborn session.) This project has buoyed me and returned me to a place of hope. It has been such a beautiful opportunity to connect with so many people I love and admire without putting anyone at risk.

My heart is heavy with all of the losses we are suffering all at once. Beloved businesses (including my own) unable to operate, the loss of freedom, and especially the loss of lives. In my household, I’ve been the one to go out into the world for necessities and despite so much hand washing and disinfecting, I still hesitate to go near James for fear of what I may have breathed in or touched or contracted simply by picking up some groceries.

And yet.

And yet, I’ve found such a deep appreciation for my life in this strange time. Things that I once did to check off of a list are things I can sink into and be present for. I think I’m being reminded of how fragile life is, how much we need each other, and how hard stillness can be all at once. It makes me so grateful for the things I have long taken for granted.

This weekend, I hope you’ll find a moment to keep as your own, where you can close your eyes and just be a human. Not one in a world that seems to be collapsing. Not one that’s worried about how many rolls of toilet paper they have left. Just you, breathing in and breathing out.