Love in the time of Corona

Gracias a esta montañitaThanks be to this little mountainVerde bosquecito tranquiloGreen tranquil little forestGracias a mi familia por sus besos y abrazosThanks be to my family for their kisses and hugsWhere would I be without you?Not hereThank you, yoga and breathFor anchoring me all these yearsFor helping me thriveThank you, birds, for always singingRoosters for crowingDogs for barkingCats for purringThank you, love, for all the ways you show up in my life, always.~Last night when I woke up at 2 a.m., I started reading a book. A memoir called Out of the Silence: After the Crash. By Eduardo Strauch, a survivor of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes Mountains between Argentina and Chile. There were 45 passengers; 16 survived after 72 days stranded in the snow, in unimaginably difficult conditions. I couldn't stop reading until they were rescued. Even though I knew they'd be rescued. I saw the movie (Alive! in 1993, starring Ethan Hawke. Ethan Hawke as an Uruguayan? Come on, Hollywood!). I knew the author had lived to write the book. But I kept reading until that helicopter lifted them to safety, to survival, to Santiago, to reunite with their families.~From the chapter entitled Love"In the end, I believe it was love that saved us in a very real sense. It was only love—this life force—that was fueling the expeditionaries as they continued on their uncharted journey.""Everyone, at some point in our life in the Valley of Tears, felt that it would be much easier to just let himself die, yet because of love, we fought for life." ~ Eduardo Strauch