* This article is a 4 minute read
One year later...
I am no longer afraid of my groceries. I can multi-task teaching fifth grade, running a website, keeping a tidy home, and locating missing objects better than St. Anthony.
I am the one who keeps everyone calm in my home, but enough bragging. I learned so much. For starters, my family can get through a crisis, and no I didn't know that before.
I got a bonus year with my ten year old son. We talked through problems, and everyday I told him how proud I was of him, and that I loved him. It came from a different place. It wasn't routine. It was with the force and belief that our days aren't promised. I was aware of my own mortality, but at the same time brave for my child as I'm sure you are.
Last March the day before school closed, I gave my son the day off. He had a dental appointment, and it was half day Wednesday so it was an ideal day to skip school. After the appointment we went to Balboa Park. He was so happy not to go to school. We went to lunch. We saw the cherry blossoms.
Thursday I picked my son up from school.
"Mom the principal said I have the next three weeks off because of Covid," he said nervously.
I told him he would have several months off, and he looked at me sadly. I reassured him that everything was going to be okay. "We have to do our part to stop Covid from spreading, and stay home," I said sternly. Inside my head, I wasn't so confident, but I wasn't going to tell him that.
You know what followed: empty store shelves, stay at home orders, everything was closed, distance learning, and oh yeah toilet paper shortages. The Doomsday Preppers had warned us!
Some of our friends died from Covid, others fell ill reminding us of how real this really was.
Slowly we learned to navigate life with Covid, and now it looks like we're coming out of the clouds.
I learned to be a parent in a crisis. I learned to make my child believe I was in control, and everything would be just fine. I said this with the assurance that it would be because I would do everything in my power to protect my family. Like the mother polar bear protecting her cubs. I didn't know I had it in me until now.
I also didn't know my child was so vocal about his feelings. By the sixth month he panicked, it seemed as if Covid would never end. He told me he took so many days for granted in the past. Trips to the Zoo and Legoland whenever he liked, now he couldn't even go to the library.
My husband has worked from home for a year now. We have gotten used to being together 24/7. I learned all about his job, and its demands. I sympathized with the both of them while trying to keep everyone's spirits up. We took virtual vacations, online classes, cooked new foods from distant lands, played board games, and yes watched a lot of Netflix and Disney Plus.
Holidays came and went, sometimes spent with friends at outdoor gatherings, sometimes just the three of us indoors. Sometimes I just talked to my dog who was soooo understanding!
So school is finally reopening, but I don't think we'll be there. My son loves homeschool, and I enjoy designing his curriculum to include an abundance of art and history his two passions. My husband continues to work from home. We are all together no longer by force, but by choice. Just like the days when Covid dominated our lives, we are unsure of what tomorrow will bring, but we are appreciative of every second that we have.
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