Bring It On

COVID-19. Social distancing. School at home. Store closures. Shortages of goods. Why don’t we just go ahead and add earthquakes to the mix? Life if definitely interesting right now.

To add some additional crazy to an already intense situation, just after 7:00 this morning there was a 5.7 magnitude earthquake not too far to the north of us. Matthew and Malia freaked out, Nathan just laughed and honestly, I just stood there and thought, “Really? Is this really happening?” Yes, I know that is not supposed to be my first reaction to an earthquake. I’m supposed to duck and cover and all that to preserve my own safety and then ensure the safety of my family. But In all reality, everything has begun to feel a bit surreal. Stress and lack of sleep have led to me walking around the house all day in a stress induced haze. Concentration was not happening, and I could not settle to a task. This afternoon brought several aftershocks strong enough for us to feel (4.6 and 4.4) and it did not help matters. We were far enough away that there was no damage in our immediate area, but still, it was a highly stressful day. Enough stress, in fact, that I had to resort to some stress baking, and thus, some stress eating. The cookies were delicious and while they in no way made a world a better place, they did actually help my brain become a calmer place. Yes, I’m an emotional eater. Most of the time I avoid it because I’m aware of the tendency, but with a pandemic and an earthquake upending my life in the space of less than a week, I really felt like some sugar was in order. And I couched it in a selfless act by simply doubling a recipe I had been intending to bake to send to Daniel. 😉

On the bright side, the ladies in my ward have really stepped up their ministering. It has made me emotional on more than one occasion today as I got responses from so many sisters in my ward about how people are doing. They are reaching out to each other and creating a web of caring and concern that is precisely what I believe the Lord had in mind with the ministering program.

I’m sure there will be more stress baking in the near future. With the changes we are seeing each and every day, I fully expect things to get worse before they get better. But I know that I am not alone and that I will be able to stand strong with those I love at my side. Oh, and if you find yourself in need of a good stress baking option, I have a delightful orange creamsicle cookie recipe.