By Kelly Stone former Democratic candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner

I went to bed hopeful last night.

While we are in a shitshow right now, I went to bed thinking about all the positive aspects of what will come out of this.

So far, I've had dinner at the table every night with my family. We've been cooking more often, going on walks together and using the phone to actually talk to people.

We are hurting right now while navigating uncomfortable and scary societal changes, but across the nation we are figuring out how to telecommute so people can accomplish their work from home. This ability is something we've needed to be figuring out all along, but many employers have not been willing to shift to this paradigm. Now, because we are forced to figure it out, we are making the transition.

Fewer cars on the road right now, which means fewer emissions are being captured in our atmosphere. Texas is even (finally) looking at reducing drilling and prorationing oil production.

Noise pollution is reduced. I can actually hear birds singing throughout most of the day now.

Our social distancing from each other is also distancing us (even temporarily) from our ecological destruction. Humans are the virus that has been making Mother Earth unwell, and she has been desperately fighting the ills of our infection. I went to bed hopeful that she is resting, healing and recovering from her more limited exposure to us.

Something I repeated many times on the campaign trail is, “Transition is hard.”

Transition is hard.

Transition is HARD.

When we graduate high school and transition to industry or college, it's hard. When we move to a new town, it's hard. When we go through a breakup or a falling out with friends, it's hard. When we get married, when we have babies, when we start a new job … transition is hard.

Did you know that when a woman is in labor and her cervix becomes dilated to 7 cm, that's the part of labor they call "transition"?

That's supposed to be when the pain really starts to set in, but that's also when we know that we are close to being on the other side, soon to meet our new life. But … oof … that transition part is a booger.

It hurts.

It's hard.

But this too shall pass.

We will get through this. And we will change and grow and understand and exist differently on the other side.

I am looking forward to seeing what that new life looks like. Last night I went to bed hopeful that this transition will ultimately help our environment and our humanity.

— Kelly Stone originally wrote this text as a Facebook post. She gave Kyle/Buda-Area Democrats permission to publish it on the KBAD website. This guest editorial reflects the writer's opinions and not necessarily those of every KBAD member or officer.

Stone is an educator, comedian, single mother, river enthusiast, lecturer and environmental activist. (We all know that women wear an infinite number of hats.) Last summer she became the eighth woman to paddle a C1 canoe to the finish line of the Texas Water Safari, known as “The World’s Toughest Canoe Race.” She has given a TEDx Talk, read her journal in Mortified and performed in the Women in Comedy Festival, but she’s still trying to figure out how to keep her boys from smearing Greek yogurt on the furniture.