Yes, I’m Still Wearing My Mask

When I made my first do-it-yourself mask, I never dreamed that we’d be wearing masks for, what seems like, the rest of my life. Later, I ordered a couple of masks that have my college logo on them. I keep them hanging on the turn signal lever on the side of the steering wheel.

At church, we are still wearing masks during Sunday School and during Worship Service. The logo mask sometimes generates questions. One adult friend asked what it was, and I said it was my college’s logo. “Oh,” she said. “I thought it might be Hogwarts.”

When I go to the elementary school close to church, I’m part of a group of adults who, once a week, spend lunch time with children who need a little help with reading skills. I’m with a fifth grader who is reading a book about Venus and Serena Williams. I wear a mask, and she wears a mask, too, until she is eating her lunch, and reading sentences, between bites. (I’ve been reading with her since she was a first grader.)

Despite the months and months of mask-wearing, I often leave my car and get almost all the way into Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/and lots of other places, before turning around, going back to the car, and retrieving a mask from the turn signal lever on the steering column in the car, and heading back to Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/et.al.

But, I have begun to appreciate my mask more, now that winter is coming up. The temperatures in Central Texas aren’t usually extreme in winter. (Well, there was that EPIC February deep freeze last winter.) But it can be really windy, and combined with cold temps., the wind chill factor can cause folks to go racing to stores for heavier, woolier, outer wear.

And I am really glad, at this point in the year, that I actually have something that helps keep my nose warm. So, as I’m walking across a parking lot, on my way to Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/et.al., I’m much more comfortable than I ordinarily would have been, and am glad that I have my mask.

Give each other a warm greeting. I pray that God will give peace to everyone who belongs to Christ.

1 Pete 5:14 (Contemporary English Version)

There are lots of ways to be warm. I wish you all the warmth you need.