Week 1 of “School At Home”. My time available on both my computer and just time in general have decreased a little this week as we figure out this new routine however it is going smoothly for the most part. This week has been filled with wonderful weather and a slower pace that reminds me of my own childhood. Lots of fresh air, grilling and playing outside, crafts, games, baking, cleaning and everything we don’t usually have time for. It has been a wonderful break from our usual life which is filled with multiple sport practices, homework, rushed dinners and then off to bed. As great as it has been, I wonder how long until this new routine becomes boring and the kids start really missing their friends and regular routines and getting a little depressed. I also wonder how much of this simpler way of life we can carry back into our old way of life whenever that finally returns and hopefully find a happy medium.
Homeschool is going great! She always loved PJ Day. Now it’s EVERY day (Bedhead is optional). Also notice her “classmate” on the phone. 🙂The dog probably won’t eat your homework but he will definitely sleep on it.
If I were to list today’s events it would look like a pretty “normal” day.
School
Work
Groceries
Home
That’s the funny thing about life right now though. We are all desperately trying to do “normal” things in a world that is anything but normal. School today meant Marissa getting up and coming down to my office to start trying to make head or tails out of her online assignments sent to us by the middle school. For Chase it meant me heading to the elementary school to pick up his packet of school work for the next 30 days. It also meant me arriving to the school to find hundreds of other cars in line and teachers and staff wearing gloves running back and forth from car to the building and back again to deliver the packets.
Next was work. It was a pretty ordinary day there. I am blessed to have a part-time job doing office work for a trucking company. I thank God (and my boss) for the flexibility to adjust my hours as needed, especially now that I am also a “teacher”. I’m also glad that since it is considered an “essential business” I can still work during the “stay at home” order.
We needed bread which has been hard to find so I stopped in the store and was happy to discover the bread shelves weren’t bare and there was now a limit to 2 per customer so hopefully they will stay that way. The grocery store is just about the only place people go anymore though and every trip the reminder that nothing is normal grows harder to ignore. Social distancing signs, gloves, masks, and even goggles this trip.
Once home I started our dinner of canned soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (now that we had bread). In our “normal” life this was a meal that was made often when we had multiple practices to pick the kids up from and no time to make anything more complicated. Tonight it was simply making use of what we had on hand and what was available. After dinner the kids made cookies. I’ve noticed a lot of people baking more since this all started. It’s funny because this whole experience is a like strange combination of Christmas vacation and a horror movie all at once. Hallmark Channel has even brought back their Christmas movies to watch while stuck at home and some people have put their Christmas lights back up to “spread joy”. I’m all for spreading joy, but it’s spring and Christmas wasn’t long enough ago for me to miss it yet. I’m ready for sunshine, flowers, and most of all normalcy with a new appreciation for it.
A few days ago I was searching for a particular photo from a long time ago which led me to stumble across an old blog that I used to keep. Within the blog was a 365 photo project. For one year I tried to take at least one photo every day and blog a little about it. Only now, years later do I realize what a treasure that was. Most of these photos were just of everyday activities and moments, many of them we wouldn’t have even remembered if it wasn’t for that blog and those photos. It truly inspired me to get back into capturing these moments more often.
It also has occurred to me that we are currently living in not only uncertain and scary times, but what will no doubt be a huge moment in history. Our children will remember bits and pieces and our grandchildren and great grandchildren will probably read about the Coronovirus Disease 2019.
There are also a lot of thoughts and emotions going on in my mind and heart and I have considered that writing about everything that is going on in the world would not only be interesting to look back on in the years to come, but therapeutic.
But today, the sun was shining. It is spring and in true spring fashion in the mid-west, it has been rainy and gray. Not ideal when everything is shut down, you are “social distancing” and essentially under quarantine. It was supposed to be in the 70’s but stormy again. But today, the rain cleared and little by little the sun broke through the clouds and the sky turned blue. I was planning on going back to work after coming home to make lunch for my kids. But today, I stayed home instead and pulled weeds in the sunshine while my son played roller hockey and then I played a game of basketball with him…he won. The grocery store shelves are growing more empty every day. But today, we will have burgers on the grill just like an ordinary spring evening. I sit at my desk writing this and glance over at a calendar full of events that will never happen and empty of the normal spring photo sessions that help support my family and pay the bills. But today, the windows in my office are open, the curtains gently blowing in the breeze and outside there is a constant stream of couples walking together, neighbors blowing bubbles with their toddlers or older kids playing basketball in the driveway. No one really knows what tomorrow, next week or even next month will look like. But today, it was a good day.
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