There are a lot of people suffering a great deal right now because of the shelter-in-place orders or because of sickness and I don't want to make light of that.
Our family has suffered some as well (though a lot less than many-- our livelihood isn't currently in jeopardy, and none of us are sick). The kids have a bit of cabin fever (Little Boy has been asking regularly "where are we going today?"), I miss the library, I haven't been able to visit with friends and loved ones in the city, and I feel nervous whenever we do venture out to run errands (during which time the kids wear (homemade) masks, stay in the stroller or basket, and I wipe everything in sight down with hand sanitizer).
But there's been some blessings mixed in with all of this as well, and I wanted to write something that focuses on those.
1.) I painted some cowboy and cowgirl cutouts for the end of our driveway.
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| Duke |
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| Duchess |
They've been on our front gate since we bought the house, and I've wanted to paint them for about two years now. When we first moved in, they were just plain black and had bandannas tied around their necks, but the sun and wind out here are so strong that they were basically bleached, tattered rags. We removed the bandannas, but hadn't done anything else to them until now.
I think Duke turned out a little better than Duchess; I might add some more detail to her. I haven't decided yet.
2.) I've been drawing more often.
"Sing"
Simcha Fisher has been hosting a drawing challenge on her social media accounts called "Withdraw 2020", and I've been (inconsistently) participating.
It's fun, and I'm happy to find out that I'm still somewhat capable of drawing something recognizable that isn't a bulldog (prior to this, most of my drawings have been T-shirt high school mascot bulldog adaptions (bulldog reading a book! bulldog speaking at a podium!) for my husband's school).
3.) I'm really enjoying having my husband home.
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| Chris doing the readings for our at home 'Church' on Sunday. |
I was a stay at home mom even during our previous life, so we've thankfully been more or less able to keep our normal routine. Chris has been teaching his classes from home, so he's pretty much holed up in the back craft room/ home office for the first half of the day.
But it's been really nice to have him join us for our meals and family prayer times, and we're getting a lot more family time in during the afternoon and evenings. We actually went out and worked on the garden together as a family yesterday, which we haven't had time to do in a long, long time.
4.) I've been able to help out my Oma a little more.
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| Oma and Little Girl a couple of months ago |
Because Chris is home, I'm able to leave the kids with him and go check on Oma a little more easily (she still lives independently, but needs a little help now and again). I like bringing the kids to see their great-grandmother, and they like being there, but it's nice to be able to drop by, make sure everything is ok, and then leave again without having to hunt down shoes and/or make sure everyone has used the potty.
The flip side of this is that I currently can't take the kids to go see her-- because she's in the high risk bracket, I just don't feel safe bringing any more people around her than I have to. I'm thankful that I can at least still go check on her.
5.) I've finally been able to establish a workable routine.
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| I wrote it down and everything!! |
I had a loose one that worked reasonably well before all this went down, but there was still a lot of chaos and it was a little harder to get things done than I liked.
Because having Chris home all the time has put everyone slightly off kilter, I've been able to take advantage of that to re-establish a slightly more structured routine with minimal resistance from the kids. Living areas are actually staying more or less tidy now, the kids are doing regular craft projects/ school work, and wonder of wonders, meal planning is going smoothly.
I have no idea if this will last once we've gone back to "normal" life and I'm running errands and going to stuff during the week again, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
6.) My recent miscarriage was a lot less awful than it could have been.
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| Baby James |
I mean, the whole thing hasn't exactly been fun.
But because Chris was home, I had space and time to rest and recover physically as well as receive his support emotionally.
It obviously hasn't been a pleasant process recovering and grieving, but I'm glad I haven't had to spend large amounts of it trying to heal while also caring for the house and kids by myself. I most likely would have been in that situation if not for the closings and shelter order.
7.) All of us now have a story to tell our future children and grandchildren.
"Oh, you can't go outside because it's raining? Let me tell you about the great Corona pandemic of 2020. We couldn't even find toilet paper."
Young whippersnappers. Don't know how good they have it.
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