Easter in the time of COVID-19
Dear World,
We’re lucky to report that we are safe, healthy
and well in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Girls have been remarkably
flexible and resilient with the distance learning initiatives, and we are on a
pretty regular routine with school work, down time, house chores, etc…—I’ve
even hosted three girl scout meetings, lol!
Our dog G LOVES that we are home all the
time: she snoozes by me as I telework, prances about the house with the
girls in anticipation of and during our daily walks (at least a mile) through
the neighborhood, or "helping" little sister with her homework (aka
snuggling up to her while she's typing on her laptop).
Teenager big sis carrries on in her sometimes surly
and sometimes sweet way, her schooling continuing on, except it’s all done via
distance, so her daily class schedules and homework schedule/load have remained
the same. Like a wise friend told me: you
never know who’s going to wake up, the sweet 8 year old who loves to please,
the surly pre teen who’s struggling to make an identity with herself, the actual
teenager who is annoyed by the world and especially her mother…usually it’s a
mix. One day she can’t stand going on a
walk with G, the next, she’s offering to ride little sister’s bicycle on the way
back—because it’s uphill all the way, lol.
Little sister definitely thrives on a routine,
and when she gets a little antsy or surly herself, a change of scenery (aka
walking G) is huge—the physical activity of walking/running in the fresh air
works a mini miracle. Too much screen
time, even for ‘learning’s’ sake, is still too much screen time for little kids.
As for my
teleworking—it’s almost busier working remotely than in person! Constant zoom meetings, phone meetings, daily
supervision with staff; my crowning achievement this week is finally get all
staff back on company computer equipment so we are streamlining our workflows,
instead of relying on a hodgepodge of personal devices, and in one case a lone mobile
device. I’ve had one pretty big win related
to work – reaching out remotely to help more than 100 times directly to folks in
the community in one week, and I’m super excited about that. Another initiative is developing, again
focusing on helping the public, so we shall see how that goes, crossing fingers
for some movement on that next week!
Easter came
and went—luckily the Easter bunny arrived at our house to much joy and fun, and
we colored eggs and also had an indoor easter egg hunt. My DDs participated in our church Easter
service via Zoom, where we had 61 participants, aww!!! (And also where we waited with baited breath
to make sure of no zoom bombers, apparently good Friday had one—I wasn’t there,
but I heard about a naked butt, which unfortunately was NOT a cute butt by any
means, darn it! Seriously though, we
locked down Easter with three hosts on the look out and instituted the waiting
room, but still, relief didn’t come until service was over…and it was lovely
seeing faces of all ages on our zoom, and the number of our seniors was
amazing!)
All in
all, we are carrying on as best as we can, social distancing, wearing masks in public,
and venturing out rarely…my now and then run to target is one of my biggest
joys, lol. I’ve been exercising
regularly which also helps with the stay at home craziness.
There has
been a breakthrough with my youngest in terms of expressing her feelings with
her father’s temper. She disclosed to me
and our family play therapist that his temper ‘scares’ her and all the
different ways it shows up…triggered by the smallest actions. I’m so sad and upset and weirdly unsurprised
that she has to deal with this, but what really broke my heart is that after
she shared with me, and then with our play therapist, she said: now it doesn’t have to be a secret anymore.☹ ☹
☹ More on that later,
that is a post all into itself…
Lastly: I
have to acknowledge our good fortune and luck that we have a roof over our heads,
food to eat, enough toilet paper that we don’t have to worry, even though hubby
is temporarily furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I know without a doubt that we will get
through this. Hubby is actually getting
on my nerves, lol, I keep hinting that he get a hobby! But he’s also helping a lot with being a part
time teacher to little sister, doing some deep house cleaning and rearranging that
we always were going ‘to get to someday…”
Again, we are thankful for our privilege.
Sending
out love and hugs and prayers to the victims of the pandemic, caregivers, and
all first responders and essential workers, especially our doctors and nurses
who are keeping us safe—so that I can be at home safe with my family. <3 br="" style="mso-special-character: line-break;">
