The missing seltzer almost broke me. For days I'd been waiting for our window in the grocery delivery schedule, and our order had finally arrived. Or rather, half our order had arrived.

There were several items missing, chief among them the seltzer I'd been living without since our at home carbonating machine ran out of compressed air days earlier.

I've never cried over seltzer before.

But then, we as a nation have not faced anything like the COVID-19 outbreak, at least not in the lifetimes of most of us.

These are scary times. They're new times.

And after weeks cooped up in my house, jumping every time the wind blows, the seltzer almost broke me.

Almost.

Because I looked around my house and took stock.

I was safe at home with my husband and my daughter.

I was lucky enough to have been able to not just receive a grocery delivery but to have an employer that allows me to work from home so that I could pay for my groceries.

I wasn't the grocery store employee making deliveries not knowing who they'd encounter, who might have a virus.

I wasn't the grocery store employee walking the store aisles gathering my food items, not sure who might be coughing behind them.

I'm not a nurse, a doctor, a hospital janitor.

We are all on edge right now. Our nerves are raw. Our feelings are running just near the surface.

It doesn't take much to bring on the tears.

It's OK to admit you're not OK. It's OK to feel what it is you're feeling.

It's important to know that there is no one way to mentally grapple with this crisis.

But it's important too to take stock, to remember what it is that is going right and remember those who may not be as lucky as you are at any given moment.

Somehow the balance of the two will get us through.