Breath in the Time of Covid

Dum spiro, spero (while I breathe, I hope).

Spire, aspire, inspire, conspire, as well as spirit and respiratory all have the root of “spir” meaning breath. Breath that can take us to both our highest and lowest points. Breathing in deeply to do more and strive higher and breathing shallowly to hide and go low, be secretive. It fascinates me that we need breath to live and that the words for breathing and soul are so closely related. I have always thought that is why we record the moments of birth and death — first and last breaths — not just the day, but the time — the moment our…