It has been almost a year since we first heard the term coronavirus and later referred to as Covid 19. In the past year, we have seen a world like we have never experienced before. We had many questions and concerns as the virus spread – will we be safe, when will things be back to “normal” and most of all what can we do to be helpful in this situation. At the preschool, we often ask children in a difficult situation if they are using their helpful hands or hurtful hands. From the onset of the pandemic, my husband and I agreed that we wanted to be good role models for our children and be helpful to our friends and neighbors in this difficult situation. This often meant living above the line, even when the situation facing us in the world was pulling us below the line. We became cheerleaders, confidants and a shoulder to cry on.
Overnight, we had 2 of our daughters and a plus 1 home from college (out of state) with no promise of returning to school. We quickly went from 3 in the house to 6 in the house full time. We also had a senior in high school that went on spring break and never returned to school. For all of our children, there were many milestones that were missed out on – 3 graduations (2 college & 1 high school), Senior Prom, sorority formals, 2 birthdays and a 25th Anniversary trip to Spain for my husband and I. We decided at this point that these were events that needed to be recognized, but in a new and unique way. We had graduation in our front yard and zoomed with the grandparents, we held a Promaversary (senior prom, anniversary and formal) dance that were all missed out on and the 6 of us dressed up in formals and had a lovely dinner at home. We had a dinner and a movie event each week where we cooked a new recipe from a different country and paired it with a themed movie. We had a Mother’s Day Tea event (ordered pick up from the English Rose Tea Room). We had social distanced block parties in our neighborhood with a neighborhood art walk (chalk drawings). We set up a table for neighbors to share board games and jigsaw puzzles. The 6 of us took our dogs (a new puppy came home from college too) on 2 walks every day and our neighbors counted on us like clockwork for our walks. We connected with friends via virtual happy hours. And many of those friends we had not spoken to or hung out with in months due to such a fast-paced schedule.
When I step back and look over the past few months, I realize that 2020 has been a scary year filled with loss, change, and an unpredictable future. My husband and I were out to dinner last night with some friends and we talked a bit about quarantine and how it was with 4 young adults in the house and what my husband said struck a chord in me. He said, “I got to meet my family again during quarantine and I really like them”. His work, prior to Covid, was often long hours away from home and out of the state. He has not traveled for work in almost a year and is working from home and is much more present in our children’s lives. Our lives have changed a bit since the pandemic started – one daughter is back in North Carolina for college, our oldest daughter and her plus 1 have moved out but are still close by and our youngest daughter is still at home taking college classes online (her college in California is 100% online). I also realized that COVID-19 has brought us all closer in more ways than I could have imagined. It has taught me to make lemonade out of lemons. Life is what you make it and even though the road ahead is bumpy and full of potholes, we can still find joy on the journey.
