So. Things are starting to go back to “normal.”
We’ve been social distancing and in quarantine for almost two months, and now, slowly, restrictions are loosening and businesses are re-opening.
Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief, right?
I know I am. I look forward to going out to eat in restaurants and getting together with friends. I look forward to being able to travel and go shopping for fun in actual stores (did someone say Hobby Lobby?!).
That being said, there are some things about this strange time that I realized I’m reluctant to let go of. Actually, I’ve come to enjoy these things so much that returning to “normal” is bittersweet. The good news is that we all have the opportunity to create a new normal.
One of my closest friends recently wrote a blog post, My Relationship with COVID-19: I Would Like to Break Up. She’s ready to move on. So am I! I want to break up with COVID-19, too. But you know how, when you go through a breakup, there are certain things you miss about your old partner?
During the two months we’ve been quarantined, I have fallen in love with a handful of quarantine’s quirks. I’m thinking maybe I’ll ask them to stick around.
Without further ado, here are the bright spots quarantine brought (or brought back) to my life:
Slow and Leisurely Cooking. When my husband and I first got married, he loved watching cooking shows on Food Network. We loved cooking together, trying new recipes, and, of course, eating! Fast forward 15 years and three kids. Pre-quarantine, our weekly menu revolved around five schedules, with the main objective being to get food on the table between activities. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy the act of cooking. With quarantine in place, we had nowhere to go. Nothing but time – and an Internet full of amazing recipes to be explored. Most evenings, we’ve been leisurely in the kitchen, cooking complicated meals that take a long time and taste sooo good. And we’ve had more time to sit and enjoy them, the five of us at the table chatting.
Evenings on the Patio. Apparently, we are project people. We always have a project going on, which is fun, but sometimes, the projecting can prevent us from actually enjoying the fruits of our labor. A couple of years ago, my husband built a pond next to our front patio. We envisioned sitting on the patio in the afternoons, when it’s shaded, enjoying the sound of the pond’s waterfall, watching the birds come over, smelling the roses. But we haven’t really taken the time to do it – until quarantine. Many evenings around 5, when it’s cool and shady out there, I’ve gone out to sit on the patio. It’s so relaxing! And it’s so nice to enjoy the final product after my husband put so much time and effort into it! Most importantly, it’s a wonderful exercise in gratitude (more on that in a minute).
Playing Together as a Family. I know. Sometimes family time isn’t the bliss you imagine it will be, right? But since we’ve been forced to spend so much time together, we’ve found new things we enjoy doing together. The kids have bickered the same amount they always did, but the five of us have also laughed more together and played more together. We’ve had video game tournaments and gone for walks and cooked and baked. We’ve taken long Jeep rides with no agenda. “Normal” life gets so busy that as parents, we don’t always feel like we have time to just have fun with our kids. So this change of pace has made space to do that, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I think we all have.
Exploring. I’m a creature of habit, for sure, so my first inclination when planning events is to retrace steps: hike the same trails, eat at the same restaurants, visit the same parks. But during the past two months, we’ve explored tons of new places and in doing so, we’ve found new favorites. Friends have told me about trails I didn’t even know existed, and I’ve seen so many new things in this place I’ve called home for 17 years. Even as life returns to “normal,” I look forward to continuing to explore!
Connecting. I said in a recent blog post that connection is key. And I think this quarantine highlighted the importance of connecting with friends–in whatever form that takes. Maybe it’s a quick text conversation after getting the kids in bed, or a quick phone call while the kids are watching a TV show, or a video call while the kids are outside playing. For me, it was a combination of those things, the nightly walks my mom and I take with the dogs, and the catch-up time my husband and I have each night after getting the kids to bed. That quick connection with someone who gets it is a life saver. This time served as an important reminder that when I’m feeling overwhelmed or at my wits’ end or kind of hopeless, a quick chat with a friend can really help boost my spirits.
Practicing Gratitude. There were times during the past two months when being the primary parent in quarantine wore on me (there were a few mornings when I almost cried as my husband left for his 10-hour workday), and I started to feel a bit sorry for myself. But, I found that practicing gratitude really changed my perspective. I know this pandemic has been so much harder for so many people than it has for my family. My husband and I still have jobs, and we’ve been able to feed our kids and find toilet paper. Because I work from home already, I had the systems in place to schedule my work to fit what I wanted to do with the kids. We live in a rural area where it’s no problem to get out and hike and kayak or bike. Even in the best of times, it’s easy to forget to be grateful for what we have. I plan to make a habit of pausing to reflect on everything I’m grateful for.
Of course, in many ways, this has been a tough two months. It’s been tricky to balance working from home while helping the kids manage their online meeting schedules and schoolwork. We have had to be creative with food since our grocery store had some shortages (but overall, they’ve done a fantastic job of keeping things stocked).
The good thing about breaking up with quarantine (rather than breaking up with a human partner)? I can keep these bright spots in my life long after I say good-bye.
I’d love to hear from you:
Has this strange time brought anything into your life that you want to hang on to?