Photographs of Hope - Jo Donaldson!

Inspirational photographs at a time of crisis, creating positivity for the future!

During these strange uncertain times, our lives have been affected somewhat. Our original plans for this weekend were all set out, my husband was set to go to Glasgow to complete his dive trainer course, my eldest daughter was set to go visit with some of her university peers, my youngest daughter and I were set to go on a local cupcake decorating workshop, all of our plans were to be apart by us having different ideas as to what would make our Easter weekend fun. That was soon to change with the current lock down and the growing fear of an invisible killer that is lurking in just about every direction. 

So there we were , a family of four all with different ideas of what we wanted to do to occupy ourselves to achieve happiness.  Then the rules changed, we were forced to change our separate plans and were forced to all stay in our home and were worried that we would be bored or argue and fight  having not really ever spending this much time together without the respite of work or school where we are able to spend time with other people. I personally thought it would be a terrible time with all four of us together with nowhere to go, nobody to see just us, but how wrong could I have been we have been having great fun, we have our meals together at the table, without the distraction of TV or electronic devices, we talk, we laugh, we eat together as a family.

Rather than going out and paying into the commercial idea of Easter, we have stripped it back, we painted our own eggs, we laughed at our competition when we all used our vote, to vote for our own egg to be the winner, we have played board games, we have played cards, we have made our meals at home from scratch together, we have made cakes, but most of all we have done these things together as a family of four, and we are safe and happy. One of our dear friends is currently very poorly, on a ventilator fighting to keep his life and showing COVID that he is not going to allow it to rob him of walking his daughters down the aisle, he WILL meet the grandchildren he doesn’t have yet, he IS going to grow old and grumpy with his beautiful wife, he isn’t going to be giving up, he IS going to survive to tell his story because he is strong and a fighter, an ex military worker, who has done so much for his country and has spent time on charitable causes. So when I hear of selfish people who are irresponsible and uneducated in their actions who believe the rules on self-isolation don’t apply to them it angers me.

My friend became infected due to his essential role as a train driver, selflessly working  and risking his life every day to do his bit help keep the country running by assisting other key workers to get to their work to do their bit to keep our country going. It astounds me that for the majority of us, doing our patriotic duty is so simple, the majority of us are asked to carry out the easiest, least dangerous of tasks and just stay at home. That is not a massive task, just stay home. We have all been given the easiest of tasks, for some moronic selfish idiots, going to see friends seems to be far more important than keeping their friends safe, having a beer in the sun in a group is far more important than their friends lives it would seem.

So instead of complaining that the weather is nice, and we all have to stay home, why not use this time to reconnect with the people you share a house with, use this time re discover what you like about each other, don’t waste this time thinking of where you could be, use it to appreciate where you are right now, don’t waste time on negativity, feel grateful that your loved ones are under the same roof as you and not currently fighting for their lives hooked up to machines, be happy knowing you can give your children a kiss goodnight and cuddle your partner because the other side of the coin is far worse, your little girl being unable to give her Daddy a kiss goodnight, not knowing if Daddy is going to come home again, not knowing if you are going to be able to see Daddy alive again, being frightened of the phone ringing in case a sad voice on the other end is going to shatter your world.

So my photo is of our Easter egg competition entries, they symbolise hope that this terrible virus does not claim any more victims, they symbolise the fact that my family of four are healthy and happy, they symbolise the need to keep together by staying apart, and most of all they symbolise that as a country we will get through this, and we will look back at this time and remember that life is fragile, and we need to make the best out of what cards we are dealt because it can all be taken away. Keep safe x

Jo Donaldson

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