Making History

We might not have painted a masterpiece, but we sure had fun trying. 

- Cherry Hunter

Surreal. It's the only word I can think of to describe most days. I still struggle to come to grips with our new reality and a distinct longing for things to be the way they once were. Never was that feeling more present than as I made my way about town, safely social distancing, to photo document this time. As I rolled through the 150 photos I took on a short excursion, this one told me so much. Here, a barricade was placed to keep people out of a basketball court, the rims and nets all removed to prevent any play. Wow!

The weather quickly turned from sun to cloudy as cooler weather rolled in and an impending threat of an April snow. The weather saying more than just that, but perhaps a foreshadowing of my mood. Unfortunately, most days beginning sunny and full of optimism. Then, quickly turning cloudy and gloomy. 

It's no secret I have felt the tug on my heart many times over the past few years to be home more with my girls. I am not for one minute taking any of this for granted. What I did not expect, was having the liberty of doing this during a global pandemic. That skirts us just close enough to bat-shit crazy!  Our days are filled with home school agendas, worksheets, feeble attempts to keep #2 happy which seems to be more and more difficult these days. #1 grows more and more serious, often stepping in a pseudo-mom when the actual mom is right here and present. It's like someone roped off our own basketball court and took down the hoops. You'd swear there was no fun to be had.

I know it's hard.  I know my girls struggle with their world being turned upside down. Missing friends. Missing teachers. Missing concerts. Missing rehearsals. Always the sadness over something being missed. But what if once, just once, they replaced that feeling with instead what they are gaining? We have played far more games than ever before. We have baked like our waistlines don't matter. We have done fun learning, online tours of places we've never been, built forts to learn inside, and snuggled with our cuddly dogs while practicing factors.  Not everyone gets to do that daily. We've been able to remain thankful we don't know anyone with this terrible virus. We've had family time we only dreamed of. We spent our first Easter in years at home, just as a family. 

Many times, we've told the girls that, while this time is hard, it's part of history. Someday their children will learn about this and they will be able to say, "I remember that." We've even encouraged them to keep a journal. Oh how I wish I'd have done that, especially in times I'd want to look back on and remember exactly what I was thinking and feeling. Yet, I struggle with what memories are they making? Will they only remember it was hard? I laugh now typing that. Things are different, but certainly not hard! Hard is losing someone you love to a virus that swept our world, in a hospital room, by themselves. It's really a matter of perspective. 

So as we keep reaching for that dose of perspective and reminding each other daily, it could be so much worse, we hope our friends and family have not encountered that. Even though the sidewalk might be closed, we miss friends something fierce, and we desperately wish we could just randomly stroll through Target, we'll continue to seek joy. Joy we've managed to find in new books, many snuggle sessions with our dogs, baking fun, Zoom calls with friends, multiple games of Clue, and the newfound Taco Show (#2's talk show that she mistakenly called the Taco Show and it stuck). 

I can't think of another group of people I'd rather be stuck inside with! Besides, basketball was never really our game, so we've taken up pool.