In my head, I could see the virus entangled in my hair like cockleburs. Last summer, my middle daughter came inside with cockleburs embedded in her hair, inspiring this imagery.

To remove the cockleburs, it required gently pulling her hair away from the cockleburs.

Not all that dissimilar to the way we have all had to pull away from our day-to-day routines, physically pulling ourselves away from the virus and physically moving ourselves away from anyone not living in our households whenever possible.

I’m am struck by the parallels between the cocklebur removal and the necessity of our removal from our day-to-day norms. I hadn’t made this connection when my initial idea developed. And, honestly, I didn’t remember until yesterday when the same daughter came to me again with cockleburs in her hair, and I had to remove them by gently pulling her hair away.

Let’s remember to be gentle with ourselves and with each other as we have to pull ourselves away from what we have always known.