Fixing It All

by Katy McCown | | no comments

Friend to Friend
I passed her as I exited the room. She retracted a little as I walked by, then darted into the room I had just left.

Armed with a can of disinfectant, she sprayed the room I had occupied minutes before. Long before the days when we knew of a term called COVID-19, I had come to work sick, and there was no hiding it.

My face told the story. Sunken eyes, a pale complexion, and probably a red-tinted nose … and if that weren’t enough, I carried a box of tissues with me everywhere I went.

No one wanted to approach me. Whether they had their own health in mind or something else, my sniffles and cough were enough to send

You Belong Here

by Katy McCown | | 2 comments

Friend to Friend
They lined up one by one, no questions asked.

They didn’t come begrudgingly. They came with an eagerness you could see on their faces. They were ready. They were excited. And they were together.

The front lawn of our local elementary school was the stage for the epic tug-of-war championship between two fourth grade classes … while some may call tug-of-war a game, I feel confident the fourth graders holding the rope approached this as anything but a game. 

Mrs. Johnston’s class formed a line down one half of the rope, while the opposing class took their places on the other half. Because I had a daughter in the class, I had heard the stories of disagreements and misunderstandings. I knew