My husband and I are far from perfect and by no means have the perfect marriage. In fact I am pretty sure that anyone who says their marriage is perfect is lying. Besides, things aren't meant to be perfect. It's the dips and bumps that makes the ride more interesting. Would you want to ride a roller coaster if it only went straight? It would get pretty boring after a while I guarantee you that.
My husband and I have had our ups and downs and each time we have emerged stronger for it. It hasn't always been easy but we are determined and we always find ways to get through the tough times. COVID-19 has been a challenge for sure but it has been one that we have chosen to embrace. Being around each other 24/7 without a break can definitely be trying on anyone not matter how good your relationship is. Especially if you aren't used to it. You get so caught up in the daily routine of life that quality time together becomes few and far between and maybe only happened when on vacations or the occasional date night we plan. I mean we had a crazy schedule with work, school, and more work, plus kid's extra curricular activities that we had to literally pencil each other in just to make a date night happen. Now we were seeing each other all the time! Like literally 24/7 with no break. We had to find ways to get through without getting on each others nerves. Even my kids were starting to feel the frustration of being confined to a house all day.
Insert creative thinking. How can we embrace the craziness that is our new normal? How can we find the positive outlook in a world that seems so bleak? How can we support each other? How can we keep things alive and positive? We had to finding new things to do in order to not be bored and try to work in DATE NIGHTS when we couldn't even get out of the house.
Streaming services have become our new best friends. Every evening after the kids are in bed we set up a table in front of the TV. We start whatever show are binging and we make ourselves some black coffee (espresso for those who are not Italian and not sure what that means). We sit with our coffee and enjoy our evening. We also like making snacks as well. It's good quality time to be able to watch a show together. Even thought we aren't talking, just the time spent sitting together is enough to help us decompress.
We also have taken on some much needed home projects. Out biggest was redoing our laundry room. (More on that in a separate post) I have found that when we are working towards a common goal we are able to get along so well and keep each other motivated. It makes us motivate to keep working on things in our house. Especially things that we talk abut doing but never have the time to actually do.
Spending more time with the kids has been a blessing. I have found that not having to deal with the hustle and bustle of getting up in the morning, rushing through breakfast, yelling at the kids to hurry up or they will miss the bus all while trying to get ourselves out the door has slowed us all down a tremendous amount. We are able to enjoy out time in the mornings and really plan out the day. We also eat lunch together every day which is great. On top of that, not having the commute home from work every evening has allow us to eat dinner earlier so once again there is no rushing to finish and screaming to hurry up an brush teeth and get in pajamas so that they can hurry up to bed other wise they wont get up in the morning. We were all able to just take a breathe and relax.
I don't think we really realized what was causing all the stress and frustration in our lives until we were able to take a step back and reflect. I have realized over the past few months that time is precious. Too often we rush through things and forget to take a step back and look around. Positive thoughts rarely enter our minds because we are so focused on what else we have to cram into our day.
Let's face it, COVID-19 was not a good thing. It had a terrible affect on our economy and on the lives of so many people. However, at the moment all I can do is count the blessings that my family is healthy. I have found that doing our best to focus on the positive points of all this has definitely helped us stay strong and push through. I only hope that we can keep this going even after we go back to whatever new normal we have coming our way and stay stronger for it in the end.