My View from the Top of the World

Today is the last day of school.  Right now I'm on my back porch, wearing shorts and drinking coffee, writing to all of you.  It"s beautifully sunny, and there's a cool breeze blowing away the humidity (and blowing pollen all over my screens.) It's a delightful way to start the day, but it's not how we wanted the last day of school to be.  We wanted a building full of excited kids.  We wanted to be able to say and hug our goodbyes.  We wanted to wave them out of the front doors and on to the buses, the same way we greeted them on the first day. As it is with many situations in life, this one is a double edged sword.   Exactly eleven weeks ago, we were told at 3pm on a Friday that school would be closed for two weeks.  It felt surreal then, and eleven weeks later, that feeling has not changed.  My friends, coworkers, and my daughter's teachers turned their lives upside down to figure out how to teach children from home, while ensuring the heal...

No doubt about it, quarantine is affecting our health.  There is so much to consider in such a discussion that it is impossible to wrap our heads around everything.  I wouldn't even want to try.  However, over the course of the last two months, I have definitely noticed some... shall we say, symptoms,  that simply must be quarantine related.  I mean, I'm not always such a mess.  Am I? I'll try to explain.   Quarantine Related Fatigue Syndrome Ex. Aw. Sted.  All the time.  Tired, aaallll the time, every single day.  Definitely tired in the morning, but come the end of the day, I got nothin'.  Yes, I get up way too early, but, honestly, you wouldn't look at my daily routine and think, "gosh, she's gotta be beat by the end of the day!" But I am.  And I know you all are too.  The thing is, you may think that the "slower pace" of quarantine - no social events, no extra-curricular activities, no mom-taxi driving, no salon a...

You get all the creds , if you are currently working and momming at home with quarantined kids who are distance learning.  Give yourself an extra hug if you are co-existing with any number of little humans under the age of 13. I mean, I'm exhausted at the end of every day, and I'm not feeding babies or helping elementary kids with school work.  This. Is. Hard.  The "invisible load" for mothers, on a normal day, is significant.  Invisible load, is that which is carried that nobody sees...  We all understand all the visible work that mothers do; physical care of the family, meal preparation, housekeeping, budgeting, educational support, transportation.  It's hard work and takes its toll, but it's that invisible load  that creates additional stress and often goes unnoticed and unsupported; managing kids' emotional needs, managing calendars and schedules, overseeing school progress, awareness and monitoring of multiple kids' events, appointments, and soci...

Yesterday, I let it get to me... ~Seven weeks of stay-at-home... ~Seven weeks of wearing only pajamas and sweatpants... ~Several days (weeks??) of cold, grey rain... ~News of a young life taken too soon... ~The winding, strenuous pathways of life that my own kids are traveling... ~Weeks turning in to months, and still so much uncertainty... By the day's end, I was exhausted, sad, impatient, not at all pleasant to spend time with.  When I woke this morning, I wasn't feeling any more positive.  Thirty minutes of quiet, coffee time helped a little.  Seven miles with my faithful running crew ~ human and canine ~ helped a little more, but a long day still loomed ahead. After getting the dogs home, I decided to go back out for a couple more miles.  I put in my earphones and changed my Pandora station from Sting to Elton John.  The first song to play was "Tiny Dancer," a song that is special to both my daughter and me. Despite being out in public in the...