I have been writing this blog post for 3 days now. I just can’t seem to get the flow and tone correct. It seems like its too complainy/negative/worrisome and there is too much of that right now.
That being said, 2020 has been a year of chaos and it’s not even over yet. I feel like the most chaotic season of this year is yet to come.
This morning I while reading my daily dose of Be Still…and Let Your Nail Polish Dry I read the Little Chicken devotional. DM (Debby Mayne) wrote about the great depression and how that had affected her mom’s shopping habits and thusly shaped her own. I couldn’t help but find some parallels between DM’s mom’s shopping habits-the stocking-up of toilet paper and can goods born from the fear that you might run out than not be able to get those things again.
Sounds like the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine.
And it made me think about how I approached, the beginning of this COVID-19 season of life. As things have gone along I have felt get more anxious. BUT my general mindset of most things is “It will all work out” and “I am smart resourceful enough to get through anything thrown at me.” And I can’t help but wonder if that is guided by my faith in God and verses from the Bible similar to this one (that was featured in the aforementioned devotional):
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink;
nor about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
—Matthew 6:25 NKJV
Now that I have said all of that, how do I continue with this post?
I have NO idea.
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Some of my observations.
The country closed down.
Thanks, COVID-19!
People have died and continue to die.
Some from COVID-19, some from other things…
Some I knew
MANY I didn’t
Social injustice came to the forefront of society.
Rightfully so. I hate to say, in my privilege although I saw that there were issues with race in this country, I always thought they were isolated.
Mostly because I don’t think (and continue to pray that I don’t) treat anyone differently based on race. And in my shell of a world, I suppose I most thought that the MAJORITY of people thought the same way I did. I still do—maybe that’s naive of me. But I will ALWAYS choose to believe that people at their core are good and want what is best for their fellow man-regardless of skin color.
And this will be a future blog post…
Words and phrases got new meanings.
Social Distancing is no longer a nice way of saying ‘anti-social’.
Working from home is no longer synonymous with:
I have a worker coming to do <insert home issue here>;
I have a sick child who will be sleeping a lot etc…;
I’m feeling a little under the weather (AKA: I don’t want to take a shower/get ready for work)… I will need to work from home today.
Summer took a slightly different look.
The neighbors’ pool became the cul-de-sac pool…chlorine kills coronavirus right.
Biking and rollerblading are fairly easy to do socially distant.
Legos made a BIG comeback.
Despite all the changes going on, one thing still held true:
No, you may NOT play Mindcraft/Mario Cart all day.
No, you can not watch Freaky Friday/Zombie High for the 1 millionth time.
GO OUTSIDE!
Running to the store became an ordeal.
I can’t take the kids.
What do we need? The list must have at least forty things on it.
Clothes?
That’s funny. We aren’t going anywhere…what do you need new clothes for?
Make-up?
I’m not going out ‘out’, I’m just leaving the house to be among the other shut-ins to get basic necessities like a case of wine/beer and milk, cereal, and forty other things—no make-up necessary.
Helping our neighbors was still important and even more so…
Hey Nancy Neighbor…I have an order shipping soon from Grove Collaborative / Who Gives A Crap! / Amazon / insert other home delivery service here do you need anything?
Olga OlderNeighbor, I know you have a heart condition and are feeling uneasy…how can I help you?
Cathy CulDeSac, I’m going to the store. Do you need me to pick anything up for you?
Wait, I don’t have enough crafting supplies!
These are NECESSARY!
I call myself One Craft Chick, what else would you expect me to say?
Plus crafting keeps me sane.
Hey Cathy CulDeSac does anyone have DMC floss #415? What about Aida cloth? Yarn? Empty toilet paper rolls? Scrap paper? Newspaper? Acorns?
Decisions have/had to be made.
In Classroom Learning or Virtual Learning?
Do we send our children to school with other kids and hope they keep a mask on all day or do we virtual school them and risk the little sanity/nerves/patience I still have. We chose the latter.
The Stock Market is a mess.
Do we move ALL the 401K into less risky investments?
Is it a good time to invest money in the market?
Sure, why not. What else do I have to do other than binge Netflix, craft, and feed the Tiger and Dragon I have time to learn how to invest money into the market that will certainly go back up, this is what I said on April 20ish when I joined Webull and Robinhood—both of whom give you a free stock for signing up.
I took some of my Amazon rewards money to see what I can do with it.
All I can say is…it’s been interesting.
What should we binge next?
Let’s rewatch The West Wing, because President Bartlett would certainly know how to handle a pandemic. How about Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet, because animals are always calming and learning about veterinary medicine is educational.
How do we vote in November? By mail or in-person?
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However, after 6-7 months, things have started to normalize.
My house is messier then EVER—no surprise there.
I HATE to clean.
Despite the fact that I have been in the house almost continuously—day and night for 6 months straight—it is no better decorated.
Wearing a mask is second nature.Being social in small groups and outdoors is acceptable. Which honestly my neighbors and I been doing since after our initial 2-week quarantine in March. None of us had been leaving/going to work (most everyone was fortunate enough to work from home up until about 2 months ago).
This kept our kids (and us) from going stir-crazy.
The question is…what will the next 6 months bring? How do we find beauty in the middle of the chaos?
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