Coffee with a side of Quarantine

Well happy Friday, friends.

I can’t help but laugh as I begin to type this because I remember thinking just a few weeks ago that my life was about to get back to “normal.”

Ha. Ha. Ha.

I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy wherever you are. We are hanging out at home in North Carolina enjoying a lot of togetherness time. Daddy is home. My kids are home. We are all home.

We kept Madeline out of her last day of school before it was cancelled because the norovirus hit her school hard. It was taking out kids and teachers left and right. Not usually one to overreact or miss a day as a precaution, I just couldn’t even fathom having a stomach bug hit our household right now. So we played hookie and played outside/drank lots of wine with friends.

Here’s a little story I failed to share back in the fall when our life was falling apart. In the midst of all that was going on, I was scheduled to have a little minor outpatient surgery. As we were walking out the door, Connor threw up. It was basically just milk and he wasn’t the slightest bit upset about it so off I went to have surgery without thinking a thing of it. He was a baby after all and sometimes babies throw up. Well, as it turns out, all of us (myself included) came down with the stomach bug the next day. You just can’t even make up the timing. So, needless to say we are all pretty traumatized and I was not about to risk that happening again.

But, because of my stomach virus fears coupled with what is actually happening now with Covid-19, Madeline has been out of school a long time and I feel like we have already been in quarantine forever.

Yet, at the same time, the weeks have been going by crazy fast. Now, don’t get me wrong – many of the days themselves go by painfully slow. Yet, we are already three weeks (out of 8, 12, 16?) down.

The last six months I have been pushing myself so hard to just make it through. To what, I am not quite sure. Just to a point where we could slow down and breathe.

While it is not particularly relaxing to be trapped at home, I also can’t help but feel like this time is also a gift. Time to love on my children, my husband who had traveled 3-4 nights a week for the past six years, to just sit with my thoughts. To slow down.

I am seeing so much good in our community and for the first time in a long time it doesn’t seem to be going unnoticed. People aren’t so preoccupied that they can’t see the good around them. We are all having to be more creative and intentional to help each other and show love to our people. It’s kind of what my heart needed in this season.

Now, that is not to say we are not struggling with quarantine life because we are. We have all had more than one complete breakdown. There have been days where Madeline cried herself to sleep while I held her because she misses her friends and teachers so much. There have been days where I cried (into my full glass of wine) because I hadn’t had one single millisecond where someone hadn’t needed me all day…for far too many days in a row.

But, we are safe and healthy and so very fortunate that Corey and I are both able to continue working and I honestly couldn’t ask for anything more considering the circumstances. How are you holding up, friends?