We are all learning a lesson in the value of delaying gratification in this year of COVID. This ability could save all our lives.

Forty-eight hours is a long time to wait if you might possibly have a life-threatening illness. It was also a long time to think.

Life had a calm empty-nest rhythm. Then, this spring, everything changed. We had not planned to shelter together with our grown children. The idea was that my 21-year daughter and her boyfriend would come here for two weeks until their college classes resumed. But classes never did resume; they morphed into virtual classes, and Anna and Ben morphed into semi-permanent residents. My 23-year-old daughter, Julia, certainly did not plan to shelter together. She had moved to Chic

We live in a quarantined area, and have been instructed to stay home as much as possible. I have never been so grateful to live in a four-bedroom house. We have eight rooms, nine if you include the screened-in porch. As a new empty-nester, I had wondered if we had too much house and whether we should downsize. Now, every day I exclaim, “At least we have all these rooms. We can move around. If you get tired of one room, you can sit in another.” It’s come to that. 5 people and