Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life.

Today is Good Friday.

Many families today look forward to Easter – chocolate bunnies, coloured eggs, fun activities, social events, and more. What’s not to love? This period of Easter is the most important day of the year for Christians. A lot of Churches start the Easter Sunday celebrations at Midnight on Easter Eve. These candles help Christians to remember that Jesus is the light of the world and that he rose to life on Easter Day to bring new life. For those who are not religious, it is a time of Chocolate Easter Bunnies and Easter eggs. It is still this symbol of new life and part of our Sunday Easter Day egg hunts and children fun.

Eggs were once associated with pagan festivals and the celebration of spring and this practice of decorating eggs and giving them as gifts were adopted by Christians and included in our Easter celebrations. Many a year I have spent as both mother and primary school teacher in decorating eggs. I have also enjoyed buying Chocolate eggs from the supermarket and hiding them from my own two young children when they were little and waiting to see their faces of joy on Easter Sunday. Importantly it is a short time to have a break from regular life to get together with our friends and family for a few days.

But this year is quite different.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, our Easter break is quite different. With people under various restrictions on movement, including stay-at-home orders and self-isolation, many families are devising alternative ways to observe the Easter holidays.

Churches as they have been doing for the past several weeks already have in place online services through platforms like Facebook and their own church websites. For those of us who attend regularly, this is one way of still allowing that sense of community that they may be missing. This is definitely a great way of having to comply with social distancing guidelines by celebrating the true meaning of Easter ‘together’ but ‘apart’ to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. While it does not the same feel as attending in person and sharing the peace with others, having church online is definitely something different and challenging and in my eyes, quite appealing and friendly! Watching the live stream in your pajamas and a cup of coffee and toast in hand is a great way to ‘go to church’. I love it!

Talking with family via skype, facetime, and zoom is now a regular ritual and today, on Good Friday I am sure was celebrated and shared not only in Australia but around the world via this social media platform. Families can still get together if not in person, but through virtual reality. Lunch or Dinner on Easter Sunday that was once shared together with family and friends via BBQ or formal dinner arrangements can now still be shared in a neighbourly way through this virtual landscape. In this stay- at- home environment that has been highly encouraged by governments this Easter Break to keep us all safe, we are not totally alone as we have come so far in technology allowing us to still be and talk with others this way.

Good Friday today in 2020,for me personally, is a time of reflection of how so much has happened in such a short time, of so much change in such a brief time period.

Essentially, I am exhausted.

My role as practice manager of our hometown GP/ husband owned medical practice in these past four weeks has had me literally running every day from the beginning of this period , with interpreting and implementing COVID-19 new guidelines and medicare changes that altered frequently. Implementing facilities in ensuring and supporting the physical safety as well as emotional welfare of my staff and doctors, and most importantly reassuring our patients who needed guidance to support their very real concerns in understanding virus symptoms and possible testing. At the same time executing and following protocols and pandemic policies for those who had respiratory concerns and /or who had returned from overseas travel while dealing with our own economic concerns and staffing changes while endeavouring at all times in staying on top of it all, making sure I knew exactly what was going on with everyone and everything at all times.

Please do not think I am complaining, I am not. It is what I do, I really love my job and I know how to do it and I know I do it extremely well. However, this non-stop period of change , organization, and day to day activities of normal GP surgery and much wanted flu clinics in these past few weeks have been extremely busy in all three ways- physically, emotionally, and mentally. I don’t believe that I have really stopped.

Today I did.

Breathing in the air of stillness and serenity, I know that Easter this particular year in 2020 of requests in staying home at Easter, of being in isolation and away from others, of not socializing at all in the usual Easter traditions, is also a time of sustaining who we are as people. As we recognize the significance of this particular holiday, that we have a stronger obligation to maintain it, to share it in the way we do and not forget who we are. I believe it is important to have those times in your life when you should pause, ‘take stock’ as they say and reassess.

So, yes, today, Good Friday has been a day of stopping.

Of actually sleeping in.
Of not getting dressed or made up.
Of staying in my sarong, the entire day.
Of the reflection of the Real Reason for today and this Easter Break.
Of my own personal reflection of the medical happenings and world changes of these past few weeks.
Of enjoying every single bit of today at home with my husband
Of most importantly doing absolutely nothing.

Oh, we did do one thing. We had a picnic dinner- inside together, on a beach towel on the floor of our lounge room while binging a TV series.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE