Years ago, I lived in a subdivision that was so new, when I opened my window, I could smell hay. Beyond the road that marked the property line was a farmer’s field. Beyond the field was a line of trees. That was my view for nearly a year. Lawn. Field. Trees.

As a city girl, I found this view a real novelty. I was working the night shift as a telephone operator, so I was up during the day when all my friends were at work. I had a lot of time to myself. I had a lot of time to study the view.

As the year unfolded, I was surprised to find that the view kept changing. Something as plain as lawn, field, trees was not at all simple or plain. For one thing, the color was always changing. The crop turned from green to gold. The trees turned red. The snow came and turned everything shades of white. The snow melted and the ground turned a rich, wet black.

And that was only the seasonal changes. I found that the view was changing constantly, every hour. Cloudy, sunny, morning light, evening sunset–it all changed the view. The farmer was in the field. A car buzzed down the road. A flock of geese. It all changed the view.

Enter the pandemic and I find myself once again staring at a view.

This time, it’s the woods, and it starts not twenty feet from where I’m working as we wait this thing out. I see maple, oak, black walnut, and one of the last standing ash trees. I’ve watched the leaves come in and the insects explore their surfaces. The birds pass through the branches and the light dapples whatever it can reach.

And even on a still day, the trees are moving. It’s amazing. A thing that rooted, that sturdy is never not moving. All my life I presumed otherwise.

We think we know exactly what a thing is. We think, “I know a tree,” but all we know is the idea of a tree.

We think that what we have now is what we’ll always have, but life is in motion like trees are in motion. We think that COVID-19 has changed us forever, but we were already different the day it arrived. And tomorrow will be different still.

Trees are always in motion and so is life.