One Year Ago Today

One year ago today was the start of a new epoch for our country and also for our family.  

On Thursday March 12, 2020, we had already seen closures in other states and we were actively anticipating word from our school district and from Craig's employer with similar news.  Craig called me before lunch and said rumors were flying that everyone was going to work from home and, quite frankly, we were hoping for it.  By early afternoon he left the office understanding he wouldn't be back until April 1.

Anticipating a few weeks cooped up on our property, I sent Craig on some errands on his way home, including an attempt to get toilet paper.  It was out everywhere until he lucked into the shelf being stocked at Walmart and was able to buy one pack.  I remember having asked him also to buy certain food staples like lentils and frozen chicken, but a lot of items were sold out.  He came home with some interesting substitutes.  I chuckle every time I see the field beans in the pantry still.

By mid-afternoon that day, we had received communication from the kids' school that they were going to be closed for one week after the already scheduled spring break (March 16-20) through March 27.  It actually felt like a huge weight off my shoulders to know the children would be home for a while as our little ones at that time were struggling at school.  I was breathing a sigh of relief, to be honest, for them to get some unexpected extra downtime. The school would, however, be open on Friday March 13, 2020 and Craig and I weighed whether or not to send our children in.  We opted for yes primarily because we felt we needed a few hours the next day to prepare for the remainder of March.

After putting the kids on the bus the next morning, Craig and I tackled our to do list. I anticipated the kids needing a lot of time and attention while at home all day in lock-down, so wanted to complete some tasks that would lighten the load in the next week or two.  We washed all the bedding and cleaned all the bathrooms and floors.  Then we headed to a small grocery store with a great deli to grab some lunch meat, cheeses, and fruit.  We had scheduled a spring break trip to Knoxville, but canceled it that day because it seemed silly to travel when everything would be closed.  The kids came home from school in the afternoon and we all leaned in to what was to come.

I cannot fully describe the emotions that accompanied these transitional hours for me.  I simultaneously felt a great calm and a steely determination while experiencing a sort of surreal twilight zone of something unknown.  I also was very much looking forward to spending time at home with my little family.  It felt like we'd been given a gift of togetherness after a period that had been quite stressful for the five of us.

No one could have known that day that a year later, Craig still would be working from home and that instead of one home schooler, we would have three registered home schoolers thriving in the complicated circumstances created by the pandemic.  Certainly in the last year we have missed things that enrich our lives, like family breakfasts out, live performances in our community, pool parties, and travel, but we have also seen so many silver linings. Whenever we can return to some semblance of "the beforetimes," our family will look back at the pandemic as a period of growth and grit and gratitude, a time that forced decisions that benefitted rather than harmed us and gave us the chance to get to know one another on a different and deeper level.