The past few months I have felt like something has been missing in our home, in our lives, and in our day-to-day routine.
I know there is a lot going on in our world right now. A lot.
When Governor Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order that started on March 20, I just started work full-time at John A. Logan as the Perkins Career Coordinator. That Friday, I took my new school issued laptop, a small notebook from my office, and prepared to work from home.
Flash forward to June, and I was working remotely and also working two days a week on our campus. Normalcy! No. Awkwardness. Quietness. A sense of something missing. People? For sure. Students? Yep.
I now know that what I have been missing or what has been left out is that normalcy that we may never return to, we may never feel. Our world has been put on pause.
With that pause, we have found more time for one another as a family. We have watched movies or shows together in our living room, we have baked bread, made homemade cinnamon rolls, learned more patience, watched O grow and change (and cut teeth), we have laughed together, but I think the biggest plus of being “on pause” is that we have been together.
We have had social distancing with friends, we have used FaceTime and Marco Polo (a video app to chat with friends who also use the app), and we have had time away from family and friends. We long to travel, but that is on hold for now.
Some may reflect on their life on their birthday, when a certain milestone rolls around (an alive day, an anniversary, a holiday), but I think it is important to know that a life on pause is not a life of sadness or a life of depression. We are pausing when we can and in this moment it is for our health and safety.
Using this time away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life (or what we may have considered our normal life) can give us an opporunity to discover something new, like during a pandemic. I never thought I would bake bread, but I found myself searching for all the ingredients and using a massive mixer.
I learned that working from home is more than just being home with my work computer. It is also navigating being a mom, having a baby (but he’s not a tiny baby anymore…), having older kids who need tasks, chores, and who want to go and do things outside of the house. I have learned to adapt to changes, use technology more than I would like, and I have learned to pause.
Life is happening, and while it might be moving at a slower pace than our household is accustomed to, we are enjoying the little things. We are making memories and we are making the most of this uncertain time in the world.
And we are doing it together.
