A few days ago a catalogue arrived from L.L.Bean, the Maine outdoorsy outfitters. It was their fall catalogue full of duck boots, cozy sweaters, socks and the best darn house shoes ever invented. Emblazoned across the cover it said: “TRIED AND TRUE.”

That’s not what my brain read, however.

My brain read, “Tired and True.” To which I nodded my head soberly until I realized that I had misread it.

This week a cartoon in the New Yorker said it all for me. A little girl toddles into her parents’ sitting room, and asks her parents, “Are we there yet?”

I remember with fond nostalgia March of this year. We all went into a temporary hibernation that we thought would last a couple of weeks. Memorial Day come and went, as did the Fourth of July, and now Labor Day. And just when I had begun to think we would emerge (very pale!) from our caves, today’s headline tells me that COVID-19 is on the rise in twenty-two states.

I’d really like to find the person who prayed for us all to gain patience right now and have a little talk. Apparently they’ve got a direct line to God. I’m not sure, however, if I’ve gained much in patience. But, I’m “tired and true.”

Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones, my friends. Please help us find ways to serve those who are suffering the most in this pandemic. Please pray for our health care workers, our doctors and nurses and the army of support staff that keep our health care system going. I know they are even more tired …… but true.