When 2020 began no one had any idea what the year had in store for us. We all started off extremely hopeful at the prospects of a new year but with in 2 1/2 months things quickly turned. COVID-19 hit and suddenly we couldn't do things like we normally did. We were afraid to do tasks that we never thought twice about before. Going to the grocery store gave me huge anxiety (a task I quickly appointed to my husband). I was even afraid to spend time with friends and loved ones.
I remember hearing about the coronavirus and how it was affecting China at the beginning of the year. I almost couldn't fathom them closing everything down. I would think to myself, "How will people survive? How will businesses thrive? How long can they possibly remain closed? How bad is this virus that they need to take these precautions?" (To be honest I definitely said to myself on many occasions "I'm glad we don't have to worry about that"). I never thought that we would be facing the same thing in just a few short weeks.
Jump ahead to the beginning of March when the first cases were being reported in the US; Washington state, California and then New York (in my home town of New Rochelle no less). I will admit I was a little freaked out but not so much so that I let it affect me. I was still going to work every day and my kids were still going to school. Food shopping wasn't a problem and toilet paper was still plentiful.
Then March 11th hits. We got a phone call from our kids school saying they were closing school. Not because of any cases reported in our area but because they were taking precautions. And what went from a few days changed to a week then it changed to indefinitely. Initially my kids were excited but as a parent, my husband and I were like "what?!?!" All of a sudden we now had to homeschool our kids. This should be interesting. Now we have to adapt to a new way of learning. Google Classroom has become our new best friend and homeschooling our new normal.
Side note...my husband and I are very fortunate to be able to have my mother-in-law watch our kids. She gets them on the bus every morning for school and is there to pick them up every afternoon. Being that my husband and I both work full time, she has also taken to getting them to and from any extra curricular activities they may have during the week. So, when we were instructed to keep the kids home we turned to her to help us out. She was able to help us get through the school work while we continued to work our regular jobs.
March 18, New York State went ON PAUSE and now we were all stuck at home. I fortunately, was still able to work from home albeit an adjustment. I set myself up in my bedroom on my laptop. We set the kids up in the living room with their school work. Unfortunately my husband was not able to do much work from home. (He owns a scenic design and fabrication company and he can only do work at his shop). We continued to get up every morning as normal. We got ourselves ready and went our separate ways for the day. It seemed to be great however the uncertainty that I was feeling really made it difficult. I wasn't sure how long we would all be home and I didn't want to allow myself to get to comfortable in this NEW NORMAL for fear that we would be right back to work the following week.
My biggest challenge was how we would all manage to be in the same house at the same time for an indefinite number of days. How did I keep some sort of sanity between all of us and not come out of this hating one another. The comfort I had was knowing that each person out there was experiencing the same thing. I was not alone in my feelings.
A quick fact about me - I am a planner. I always have been. I like know what is coming up, when things are going to happen, how we can plan out our days, weeks, months. Coronavirus had completely knocked me for a loop. There was no planning anymore. It was the 'take one day as it comes' attitude. I had to accept that there was nothing I could do about it and move on. I was healthy, my family was healthy, and we have each other for support. That is all I could hope for.
So, here I sit. 8 weeks after we went into quarantine and look back on everything that has happened thus far and I ask myself, "Do I have something to say?"
The answer is YES! YES I DO! We all have something to say in our own way and we should make our voices heard.
Thanks for reading. I am looking forward to bringing you much more and that you can get a bit of insight into me and my family and we tackle these crazy times as well as how we approach a new normal and a new way of life.