When I came home from my mini vacation a few weeks ago, I arrived to a different, not new, but not normal way of life that I was currently used to. I am by no means the only one…millions of people…either displaced or unemployed as I am upon my return; overworked like the healthcare systems, grocery workers, truckers: or the sick, seriously ill in hospitals or home in rooms by themselves dealing with COVID-19.
I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I get to stay home. I don’t have to be around people coughing and germs running rampant. We are all trying, well, most of us with social distancing doing our part. I am home with all 6 of my kids due to closings of all schools. And truthfully, I have a couple kids who still see the boyfriend or go to the college house to get school work done because their internet doesn’t crash during the online class. And those are the limits. The rest of us home. Two work at the restaurant still so it’s always a chance of getting it. But, we go to the store, there’s our risk too. However, I am a firm believer this disease has been around longer than the government says for and that some of us have already had it.
But being at home, with my kids is not new for me. Since I used to homeschool back in the day, I had all kids all the time. I realize that this is new for alot of families. Especially the ones who have their kids so busy in activiites that they rarely have normal family time outside of planned vacations. This is throwing them off kilter for sure. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in their houses just to see how they are coping with it all. This is what you get when you overschedule your kids and they don’t know how to just be home. I’m getting a real kick out of parents stressing out over the homeschooling. And some are doing a fantastic job taking it on.
It’s not new for us to be away from the masses. I moved out to a rural area 6 years ago, to contain my kids from wandering the neighborhoods while I was at work, so they are already used to not going to the neighbors or walking to their friends. I mean, right there, kids nextdoor wanting to play or hangout makes for tension when telling the kids you can’t because most kids don’t get it. My kids are’t worried about getting sick, but they did express that they wouldn’t want to be the one to give it to someone so they understand.
It’s nothing new to entertain ourselves. When I did homeschool, we found things to do; projects, creativity. Now that they are older and with all the technology, we are in great shape to self quanrantine. Kids play their video games online with friends….there’s shows to binge watch….there’s games we play together, but we have always played family games, we just play more often. Our favorites are Clue, Scattegories, and Matt ordered PS4 games that we connect on our phones to play. We go for walks on the traintracks near the house. We go outside and play football, cornhole and bocce.
I’ve been cooking about 90% of the time. Firstly, I have never ever liked to cook. It takes up so much time to prep and cook. Secondly, I am not creative. It is such a chore. I’d rather scrub toilets than prepare meals. I know, I feed a family of 7 and I despise cooking! I am not deep cleaning the house; not yet. I’m not feeling it and I’m not going to feel guilty not doing it because of all the time I have. And I do not set an alarm and LOVING IT! Get up whenever, no schedule for the day. If I want to be a bum for a day, I do. With no guilt. I do have a daily routine that I try to follow: read in bed for an hour before my feet hit the floor, water with apple cider vinegar, coffee and a real, physical book, workout for at least a half hour, get ready for the day (shower every other day), work on some my online classes I signed up for (free-website building, a social psychology class), work on dinner then after either play games, watch some TV, watch free concerts online or read a little more. It is full days. This is my new reality. Everyone’s is different and I look forward to hearing about them.
