Silver linings

I have worked inside the walls of a hospital for 17 years. Face to face with a team of doctors, nurses, therapists and others. My daily schedule consists of seeing patients and families, meetings and phone calls. In a matter of days, I was deployed to home and spent the first month feeling like I was learning a brand new job. Only it wasn’t new. It was just being done remote.

And it was hard.

 

During all of my education, we are taught to read non-verbals, and now I was doing my job over the phone. It felt impossible. But I eventually got the hang of it, and now I kind of like it. Or at least parts of it. ..like the being at home part.

Despite the challenges of being deployed to work from home, I’m going to miss this. And I’m realizing this time has truly been a blessing.

 

Although we are predominately staying home, the kids have some increased freedoms they didn't previously have while we were away at work.

Like hanging in the front yard.

Mom getting them snacks mid-day.

Swimming all day, everyday.

And 24 hours, 7 days per week of together time.

Oh wait, they could use a break from each other every now and then :)

Missing friends

Lincoln asked me the other day “when is the virus going to be gone?”

We had a chat and I asked him what he was missing. Without skipping a beat...”my friends”. 

Ripped my heart out. 

He’s been a real trooper in all of this. Our super social boy has had FaceTime calls and zoom play dates, but I know he’s really missing seeing and playing with his buddies. 

I’m hoping soon we can start to see some friends, even just for a short period of time. 

He misses his friends, he needs his buddies. 

Love you buddy. 

Thanks for hanging in there. 

End of the school year: 2020

This year was everything but normal. Little did we know at the start of Kindergarten, 5th and 8th grades, that we would be ending the school year from home utilizing distant learning. We were blissfully living life when smack dab in the middle of it all, everything, including traditional learning in the classroom, came to a screeching halt. 

We left school that March afternoon, with an unsettling feeling, and some concerns. But never did I ever think we wouldn’t go back. I thought for sure we’d step foot in the doors at least once. Boy was I wrong. 

By the end of the year, and with learning behind us, we listened as plans to exchange our items (library books, chromebooks, desk supplies that had been left behind....and let’s not forget Regans lockers!) were laid out. Plans that included masks and gloves and orders to “stay in your car”. 

It made me cry. This was not how the year was supposed to end. 

We were supposed to have year end parties, valley fair trips, field trips and graduations. And frankly, I was so sad about it all. 

But these kiddos are resilient, and this will go down in their history books. 

The schools were amazing, and despite our heartbreak, we moved forward. They set out to help us celebrate and held (reverse) parades. 

We cried. 

We smiled! 

And felt a little anxious. 

But those celebratory parades helped give us some positive closure.

And now it’s on to: High school, Middle school and first grade!