Social Distancing Week 8…Both/And 2.0

Friday, May 8, 2020…1:49pm

The end of week 8. We’ve been existing in this in between space long enough now that I’ve had time to make a new set of both/and observations about my life in a time of COVID-19.

I wrote the first set of both/and observations at the end of week 3. Those things are all still true, but since they were written in the relative new-ness of this reality they aren’t really about the nitty gritty of life. The list of both/and 2.0 is the nitty gritty…

• I am BOTH enjoying having the time to cook dinner from scratch without the rush of having to get kids to an evening activity AND really don’t want to cook every night.
• I am BOTH loving how healthy my hair feels since I’m only using a blowdryer once a week AND wishing for a visit with my hairdresser because the grey hair springing up on top of my head is depressing.
• I am BOTH appreciating the extreme effort my kids’ teachers are going to in order to make the most of distance learning AND wondering how many of them really understand the chaos of two middle schoolers and two working parents all in online meetings from home at the same time.
• I am BOTH stir crazy AND enjoying being around to see the daily changes in our recently planted native landscaping.
• I am BOTH missing the face-to-face interactions of my work day AND coming to terms with the fact that we could still be months away from me being back in my office on a regular basis.
• I am BOTH exhausted by the effort involved in running simple errands AND thankful I can still run simple errands.
• I am BOTH aware of the many spaces in our home that need serious cleaning out to be most effective for the way we are living now AND do not have the energy to begin the cleaning and purging.
• I am BOTH trying to maintain healthy limits with the kids and their screen time AND decided once the school work is done for the week, they can basically do whatever they want.
• I am BOTH getting more exercise than I did in a pre-COVID world AND still feeling sluggish and tired.
• I am BOTH counting the days to the end of this strange school year (34 if you count weekends) AND wishing we could get a bit of a do-over as the man-child is missing out on all of the traditional end of middle school celebrations.
• I am BOTH super thankful we have finally upgraded our wifi enough that all four os us can be online at once AND ready to throw everything with an on button out the window.
• I am BOTH aware that we remain among the “lucky” with steady income and good health BUT know that it’s increasingly unlikely we will come out of this time completely unscathed.
• I am BOTH thankful for the good days AND well aware that they won’t all be good days.

And as we are at the start of a weekend that will end with Mother’s Day….I am BOTH really missing seeing my parents in person AND know that since my husband continues to be out in the world almost every day the chances of passing the virus are high. So we stay away because we love them. FaceTime and Zoom are amazing, but I am longing for the day when I can hug my parents again.

Both/And

Be well my friends.