Quarantine Reflections

This blog has been fairly quiet over the past few years and I do hope to change that and share many updates on our family’s journey in the near future.  As we progress to the next stage of our quarantine experience, I did want to take some time to memorialize these strange times.

The general summary is that we had some good days and some extremely bad days.  I always try my very best to find the silver linings and focus on thoughts of gratitude for our many blessings . . . but this was really, really hard.  I admit to engaging in quite a bit of escapism – drinking wine and watching television (so uncharacteristically unproductive of me).  I also found myself wondering how others, with far worse struggles, managed to survive this type of existence.  To the front-line workers, single parents, those who lost loved one, the ones who became ill, people who have lost their jobs, and everyone else who is doing their best to just make it through one day at a time: YOU ARE AMAZING AND AN INSPIRATION!

School’s Out . . . Forever?

Hopefully not, but it did seem that way, right?  We recently had our first look at the school district’s plans for the coming year – but that’s for another post.  This one is reflecting on how we did during the Spring.

Homeschool brought about an uncomfortable reckoning.  Years ago I blogged about dreams of early retirement so that I could spend more time with my children.  I had dreams about homeschooling my children.  And I believed that if there was some way to only work part-time, so that I could spend more time with my family, that our lives would be infinitely more joyous and devoid of so much of our usual daily stress.  Let’s just say that things didn’t quite work out that way.

Our school district faced quite a challenge, but we were still very disappointed by the lack of structure to their remote education.  We did our best and came up with many of our own lesson plans.  Fortunately, the kids love to learn so although the curriculum was unique, they were engaged and filled their brains with a bunch of new things.  In our opinion, given the circumstances, it was: good enough.

Work During Quarantine: More Of The Same, But Worse

I joined an amazing new law firm in the fall of 2017.  The firm is on the other side of our state and I handle all of the cases in my region.  This means that I had already been doing a lot of remote work for the past few years, so the orders to stay at home didn’t disrupt my job too much.  I just stopped going to court or depositions anymore – and yes, at this point, those things feel like a fun excursion.

There is a lawyer at my firm who only writes motions.  He would sit in his office everyday, just reading, researching, and writing.  I remember asking him, at one of the holiday parties, how he felt about these job duties.  He told me that he hates going to court and is quite happy working on motions every day.  My reply was along the lines of, “I would go crazy if I had to sit on a computer doing legal work all day long.”  Ha. Ha. Ha.

Yes, I’m thankful that there is still work for me and that a paycheck keeps hitting our bank account every two weeks.  But, it’s been extremely difficult to focus and stay productive, especially with all of these kids bouncing around the house with no where else to go.

A Dog’s Life

One decision that worked out perfectly for our family’s quarantine experience is that we adopted a new dog just a few weeks before the world started falling apart.  She is a one-year old, maybe Shepherd/Husky mix, who was a stray at a high-kill shelter.  We lost our 15-year old Shepherd/Husky in May of 2019.

It has been wonderful to have a dog again.  She is young and energetic, so I have had no choice but to get outside and go for several walks each day.  Also, she is another source of entertainment for the kids.  They love playing fetch with her, brushing her, and sneaking her way too many treats.

A Few Silver Linings

The big ones: we never got sick, I didn’t lost my job, and we never ran out of toilet paper.

I saw Phantom of the Opera for the first time – and LOVED it!  It was available online for free for a few days.  I was never a big fan of musicals, but now my bucket list includes seeing this in person (someday).

My crochet project back that was supposed to be a Christmas present is finally finished and another creation is almost done.

I started reading again thanks to the Libby app that gives me access to books via my library card.

We were able to finally take care of dozens of miscellaneous things around our house.

Of course, some of our family time was a real blessing.  We were able to enjoy many special activities at home together.  One of my favorite memories were our “theme nights” where we had coordinating activities, dinner menu, and a movie.

Finances

We were doing well before this pandemic, but only because of years and years of hard work.  As readers of this blog know, we have struggled, side-hustled, and lived frugally whenever possible.  While so many others are facing horrible financial struggles, we were able to use the government stimulus check to pay off the last of my student loans.  It was a bittersweet accomplishment given the current economic climate, but still a goal that was accomplished.

The Future of Creating My Kaleidoscope

This blog is being seriously neglected.  I carry a fair amount of guilt about not taking time during quarantine to update the site and share tons of new posts.  But here’s the honest truth: I just did NOT feel like writing.  There were too many days where the weight of everything was crushing me down.  It took everything just to continue swimming and keep my head above water.  On our good days, it felt like the only thing to do was savor a moment of peace and happiness with the family.

Things are becoming easier, perhaps we’re just starting to get accustomed to this “new normal.”  Hopefully, I will be able to get back into blogging.  One of the top items of my to-do list for this site is to finally publish a series of posts on our amazing adventure to California in February.  We took five kids on an epic road-trip in a rented RV and visited so many unforgettable sites in The Golden State.  Little did we know just how thankful we would be for this experience right before the world shut down and for the chance to visit with my sister and her little family (who knows when we will see her again).  Even without all of the pandemic stuff, I hope that other families may find inspiration from all that we were able to see and do in just a few weeks time and use the lessons we learned to design their own adventure.

In closing, the months of quarantine spent physically separated from other people gave me an abundance of time to think critically about myself, reflect, and re-imagine the future.  The world as a whole has been given a similar opportunity.  From all of the remote working arrangements and the beneficial impact on the environment, to the efforts to reorganize our education process and healthcare system, this quarantine has brought about a critical reflection on almost every aspect of our current society.  I have to believe that at the end of all of this, both myself and the world will be better off than where we started.

Stay safe everyone!