Ok, y’all. I’m probably gonna murder my kids. Like, not literally, but my mom actually told me today that I need a break…after I spilled my vodka/tonic that I had discretely made for myself, with her vodka, before noon. She also bought me a plant and told me to make myself another drink. Thanks, Ma.
Remember that post we all saw a while back about same storm, different ship? Well, I think it’s safe to say that most all of us with children have had a small leak starboard for the last few months that just won’t quit. We’re surviving with our jobs, household duty’s, homeschooling, and generally keeping all family members alive, but it isn’t pretty and I’m fairly sure most of the time that my ship is sinking. The horizon keeps getting lower and lower and the vodka is disappearing just as fast.
Just as I start to throw metaphorical buckets of sea water overboard, a dove appears! Carrying a blue cheese stuffed olive, of course. Land is near. Things are beginning to open again. Just barely, and very cautiously, but it’s happening. We’re finally moving in the right direction and I feel a sense of…sadness?
Isn’t it supposed to be relief? Good lord, I need these children to go literally anywhere else. So why do I feel a little sad that we might soon disembark?
Because, hindsight is….20/20. Funny the way that sounds this particular year. But all the more true. I wouldn’t wish quarantine with three young children on my worst enemy, but in retrospect, it was sort of wonderful. In a, “heyyyy let’s potty training the last kid cause we’ve got nothing better to do!” kind of way. We spent an absurd amount of time together, and I’ve cleaned up way too much pee, but we also baked things we wouldn’t normally bake (#covidbananabread) and tried recipes we don’t usually have time for. We painted rocks and other random things cause, why not? I helped my daughter with her homework and watched her learning new skills first hand. I had time to update our half bath, and our guest room. My husband built a second garden bed and we planted a garden together. We added to our flock of chickens, and we all know every dog in dog-dom has enjoyed having us all home so much. My love of real estate never wavered, but my passion for it feels renewed! Even if it’s more like, thank God I’ve got a couple hours away from my children to go show some property.
This is just the tip of the iceberg (another nautical reference for ya there). As the world continues to open up, I am MOST looking forward to hearing about all of the things that families miss about quarantine. I’ll miss waking up late, and having an empty calendar. I’ll miss crossing huge things off my to-do list, and sometimes not having a to-do list at all. I’ll miss actually watching my kids actively learn new information right in front of my eyes. I’ll miss the clarity of it all, because while the whole world got more and more complicated, my little world at home revealed its true simplicity.
As my ship draws nearer to dry land, and the world begins to open up, I am surprised at how unenthusiastically I am running to greet the sand. Here I am, looking back on how wonderfully little we did at home together since March, and how lovely it ended up being. Remember when we all thought we had two weeks to power clean our homes and finish our to-do lists? Well, my house is a disaster again, and my to-do list is a mile long. But, I wouldn’t have wanted to quarantine any other way.
Fabulous post! ❤️