I have almost survived the first 24 hour shift since social distancing/homebound life has begun and just like that it turned into a 72 hour shift. This is not abnormal in our life, I have definitely been expecting hubby to be gone more, so this wasn’t a shock but obviously there is always the hope that he will come home, especially now when we are stuck inside.

I woke up with a few things on my mind this morning. 1-If I miss my friends, my kids must be missing their friends too. 2- Under this extreme pressure cooker situation-it is time to lighten up and have some fun.

1- I miss my friends!! Like I said the other day, I’m an introvert and I enjoy home life. I don’t like being in awkward situations where I have to make small talk-like I am physically not capable of making small talk. I would much prefer to have big, deep, meaningful conversations, therefore I try to be intentional about how I spend my time and who I spend it with. I would love to be friends with anyone and everyone if I can break through the socially awkward moments. If I miss my friends-who I don’t even see everyday, I imagine my kids must miss their friends something fierce as they see them 5 days a week! I’m super glad that my kids are all home and safe with me, and I am even more glad that they are getting along(for the most part-I have heard my fair share of shut up and idiot so far) and playing together. Today I did a few things to help them make connections with their buddies. Since Christopher and Evan don’t have phones like a lot of their friends do, I got them set up on my Marco Polo account so they could send video messages to their friends. I  have so much fun with this app. I am able to chat with my sister in California, my friends in Florida and Abu Dabai, and even locally. It is totally awkward at first that you are looking at yourself in the phone, but it is totally worth it, especially now! The other thing I did was for Logan; instead of a phonics worksheet I had him pick a classmate that he could write a letter to. He wrote it on the back of a coloring sheet so he could color the front and have the note on the back. I’m excited to get that in the mail for him.

2-It is time to lighten up. I have totally relaxed on a lot of stuff. The noise hasn’t been driving me bonkers as it usually does, I haven’t been as strict on screen time, but really, I can choose to see this time as a time of uncertainty and anxiety or I can choose to see this time as a gift given to my family. We are not getting to choose to slow down and stay home right now, but we do get to choose what we do with this time. What if this time could help us to discover our best selves, our best selves that possibly have been hidden behind busy, overscheduled, rushed lives? What if this time could bring families closer together, what if we let it teach us something about grace and mercy, patience(an abundance of patience). What if we discovered new passions, took up a new hobby, discovered an old hobby or passion that got shoved underneath all the busy? Yesterday I told Logan that he needed a haircut, he of course did not want one, so I bribed him with chocolate chip cookies and a movie. So as we got out all the ingredients to make cookies, I decided we needed music. Not just any music, we needed dance music. So I got out my old cds and put on volume 1 of Jock Jams. Just like that we had a chocolate chip cookie making dance party. I called that our after school enrichment activity. My big kids would not engage in the dance party, but ya know what, a few more weeks of this and I think we will be learning some dances together.

Anyhow, I heard it is supposed to get up to 70 tomorrow and I’m totally looking forward to taking a walk around the block or around the yard or something. I will be here missing my hubby and desperately craving adult conversation, so if I don’t get to chat with anyone, I’ll probably be having a Backstreet Boys/N’Sync Dance party in my kitchen. Be well everyone!

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