In this blog, we have a fantastic poem written about the pandemic, and the changing roles that we have all had to adapt to – including the kitchen table! Mum and pastor Naomi beautifully captures a glimpse of how family life has changed, but also encourages us to keep going.

Kitchen Table

You stand there silently.

We used to simply serve our meals from you.

Now you play a thousand roles –

from home school work, to lockdown lunches,

work Zooms, to projects galore.

And you hear it all.

The optimism of parents trying to start afresh,

and make this the best day yet,

to exhausted stress-meets-stress arguments about nothing,

everything, the accumulation of exhaustion

and living with an unknown timescale.

You soak it all up.

Still you stand there, in the midst of it all.

Doing your job.

Who knows – were you made for such a time as this?

Could the one who crafted you have known

that you would be such a central, constant piece

in this time of uncertainty & change?

The parallel is not lost on me.

I used to play certain roles

and thought I was at capacity then.

Way back then before pandemic days.

Now – now I’m home-schooler, playmate at break time,

hairdresser, work from home-r,

collapser after bedtime stories.

And for some, I am a constant.

May I learn from you to keep showing up day after day,

doing what is asked of me in each changing season.

Who knows – maybe I was made for such a time as this?

Thank you so much to Naomi Hutchison for writing the poem and giving permission for use.