The one house is what you’d call a farmhouse style: it looms large with lots of sunny windows. It’s a newer construction boasting all the amenities, conveniences, and 21st century square footage coupled with old fashioned curb appeal.

—Anne Herbert

On a nondescript weeknight, a young man, probably barely over the age of 20, set up a chair beside a bike path. With a single microphone, an amplifier, and his guitar, he began playing — with no explanation — exquisite classical music.

There was nothing about this young man that would indicate that he was capable of this stunning music. His sneakers were scuffed, his hair a shaggy reminder that haircuts in the time of COVID are not necessarily essential.

Instead of new shoes, piles of fresh notebooks, pencil cases, locker organizers, and backpacks, this year started off more with a tiptoe than a bang. Come to think of it, I never took a “First Day of School” picture like I usually do. On the first day of classes, two of my kids woke up, showered, and unceremoniously walked to the dining room table a few feet away from where they’d just grabbed the milk for their breakfast cereal.

Since our family downsized to a modest 2-bedroom home five years ago, Ikea and its compact line of furniture with a minimalist mindset has been a crucial ingredient in our ongoing quest to live life in a smaller space. I have to admit that I love the way Ikea items come in compact boxes with just a booklet of illustrated instructions, an Allen wrench, and a variety of bolts, brackets, and pegs.

For the record, I have always felt a touch of envy for those long-ago folks because medieval art is filled with paintings showing blazing comets in the sky, and I have always wanted to see a comet blazing across the sky above me.

And one clear night this summer, my dream was fulfilled as Comet NEOWISE hung like a Christmas ornament just beneath the Big Dipper.

But by those early days in June, we were going stir crazy from the shutdown as COVID-19 cases were on the rise. Summer had arrived, and amidst a global pandemic, our upcoming vacation—so carefully planned in pre-COVID days—seemed less and less likely to happen.

“My fellow Americans, today is Fourth of July, the day we celebrate our nation’s independence from tyranny and oppression centuries ago. That independence was won by the sacrifice of patriotic citizens, and sustained by the sacrifices of subsequent patriots we honor equally.

Those patriots made sacrifices not because they wanted to, but because they knew it was their duty as Americans. They were willing to forego their own comfort and security for the sake of their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers—even for neighbors and townspeople they had never met.