Respond, Recover, Adapt

Hello lovely people! It has been awhile - five kids and a job keeps me busy. I would not say busier than before this pandemic but a different kind of busy.

I saw something on LinkedIn the other day that resonated with me. It was simple and I am going to share it:

Respond to the pandemic
Recover
Adapt to a “new normal”

Pretty simple right? I know, I know, looks like it on paper. But really, unless you reign yourself in and respond, build, and adapt you are going to go crazy. Am I right?

My husband and I have been working from home (both full time at a computer) with five girls between the ages of 2 an 12. Every single one of them thirsts for a schedule and should be learning something for the next month so we strive to create one for them weekly (or daily). The following statements come out of my mouth several times a day:

'Go find something to do or I will find you something to do.'
'Do you need me to find you something to do?'
'Wash your hands.'
'Did you wear that yesterday?'
'Stop talking and listen'.

My mom is laughing, I know it.

We have had lunch at 10:45am a few times and dinner is usually around 4:30pm. It's fine. They're fine. We are doing fine. I am okay with this 80 year old person's schedule.

I saw this coming so my husband and I sat down with our girls as schools started shutting down and made it clear - our world was trying to protect everyone and keep hospitals from becoming too busy by keeping people from being in crowds and asking them to stay home.

Oftentimes, I have to remind them why they cannot go hug their friends (or go to their houses), or walk too close to other people on the sidewalks, or why they cannot go to the grocery store with me without being too scary. By remind I mean shout things like 'MOVE TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD'.

In a world where we are 'locked inside' with things like social media, television, Netflix, etc etc - everyone becomes their nemesis. I honestly just scrolled across an article for my city on Facebook that posed the question 'will kids even be able to go back to school in the fall?'. Several of us have to remind ourselves that this thing is taken day by day (or 2 weeks by 2 weeks) and no one has that answer.

I also scrolled a little further and saw that Georgia was going to start letting businesses and restaurants open this week. My concern is that that plan is premature and will expose many people to the virus and we are back where we started.

I guess we wait and see what happens. We have done a lot of 'home schooling', taken a lot of walks and bike rides, did some gardening, and made a lot of meals. We have celebrated two birthdays at home and did just fine.

I am lifting almost everyday in my garage (luckily finished it before this all happened)!

Until then - be a little less critical of yourself and everyone else but remember that you make your new normal. Protect your kiddos. Do what makes you happy at home. Thrive. <3