I don’t know about you but every day, since quarantine began 7 weeks ago, I finish multiple sentences with, “Never mind, what does it matter anyway…”
Don’t wear your school shoes out to play!
When did you guys last get a bath? Did I shower today?
It’s past bedtime!
Did you stain that shirt?
How long have you been playing that game/ watching that show?
I was going to do my hair but…
I don’t like that kind of bread.
Your socks don’t match.
Hairspray, perfume, mascara? No? what does it matter?
And I don’t mean this in a depressing way like we’ve lost all hope. What I mean is that there are so many things that normally would matter but we are completely far outside the realm of normal. These things don’t matter because all that matters right now is to stay home. Keep those that live in it alive. And wash your hands.
So many little things that we would normally care about really don’t matter right now. Seriously! They are so small and really are completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. We have much bigger things to worry about. They aren’t asking for very much- just stay home. And yet at times, it feels like a lot is being asked of us. Stay home?! But what about school, work, baseball, getting a haircut, going shopping, planning a vacation… Seeing our family?
It is hard to believe we are really going through this. Everything has changed. Does anyone else wake up each morning and ask themselves, is this seriously happening? Seriously?? A worldwide crisis, a pandemic? But it is. And when we may feel at our very most vulnerable, we have to put our big girl pants on and suck it up. Why? Because we have to be there to support our kids. They are young. They are small. And they are going through this too and it can be just as hard on them.
BUT it is only temporary. I am an optimist at heart. Just ask my Mom. She has always told me I wear rose-colored glasses. Let’s look on the bright side and think of all of the things we have been able to do since the orders or mandate to stay at home. All of us have wide and varied experiences at home but let’s think of all of the new things we have had time to do here.
1. Cooking! And dinners together as a family every single night. Saying prayers together. Being thankful for what we have.
2. Gardening, landscaping, and enjoying the weather outdoors. Thank goodness it is Spring. We have watched the trees, plants, and flowers grow!
3. We have expanded our vocabulary: Coronavirus, social distancing, shelter in place, PPE, COVID, quarantine, N95, novel virus, contact tracing… and so forth.
4. We have strengthened our abilities to telecommute, work from home, video conference, learn online, and network virtually.
5. We have been creative and have still hung out with friends by playing games together but virtually. Poker, Scavenger hunt, and so on. It is fun to get social, even from a distance. Hunter has had virtual nerf gunfights and a ukelele jam session with his BFF. Talk about resilience.
6. We have learned to become our own beauticians and taken matters into our own hands. Home haircuts, hairstyles, manicures, grooming, etc. What’s amazing is the beauticians are creating videos to show us how!
7. We have the fear of the unknown but as parents, we are strong every day for our children. We try to explain the severity of the situation in their terms. And boy is that tough.
8. We long for the day when we can all get back together. To hug, embrace, shake hands without 6 feet of distance. How will society change? Will we go back to shaking hands? Will we always wear masks in public, on planes, to the grocery store? Will we ever be able to go without hand sanitizer?
So much goes through my mind on a given day. I am afraid of the unknown, as I am sure you are too. How will we start school in the fall? When will we ever have a family vacation? Will my retirement savings get back to where it started before the pandemic?
One thing I know is that we are being stretched far—much further than we could have ever imagined but we are growing in more ways than we know. We have the gift of time right now. And a lot of it. That is until we get to the other side of this.
