I think....
Obviously I am, but it has been quite some time since I sat down to catch you up on my journey. I would like to pretend that it for some glorious reason like I traveled to some remote location and didn't have access to electronics. Nope, it is because I have had too much access to electronics, and can't seem to escape from them long enough to enjoy a little time for myself. So today, I made a point to put this on my list of things to do for work.
So here we are, officially a month into this whole "social distancing" thing. A MONTH! I am not sure if I honestly thought it would have been this long. The optimistic side of me would have thought that the two weeks would have cut it. I think the logical side of me knew better. I miss so many things, but I really miss seeing my children hug my mom! My little guy asks about his Nama (that's our cool, adapted Grandma slang) every single day. We do a whole bunch of facetiming, but it never prevents him from asking the question of when he can go to her house. We have been lucky enough to still go over for socially distant visits. My mom has acres upon acres of winding trails through her woods and we go there and walk through them. She meets up with us along the way but always stays more than the allotted six feet away. I have had to tell Camden that we do that so we don't get sick, which he understood as Nama is sick. He asks every day if she is feeling better, pulls right at those damn heart strings! I absolutely cannot wait to watch him give her big old hug! I am tearing up right now thinking about it!
As for the tween, he is still winning the Social Distance Award. He keeps to himself in his game room, chatting online with friends. Our school district opted NOT to cancel April Vacation to give kids, families and teachers a much needed break. It's little things like this that show me how lucky we are to have such a great school system. They really care about the students and families, and it shows. Of course my son could care less about the kindness behind the gesture, and is more than pleased to have a few extra hours to chomp on Easter candy and game with his buddies. He has really been a rock star through all of this, so much so that I finally let him dye his hair purple, something he has wanted since last year. Now I have a wonderful, hormonal, helpful and snappy purple haired tween, and I like it!
I have found a new pass time in sewing cloth face masks. I tried baking bread from scratch and have been much more successful with the sewing. At first, I decided I would make a few masks for family and friends. By the end of this past weekend, I made well over 100, probably even closer to 150. My husband (I get to call him that again because he went back to work, I will get to that later) thinks I am crazy for spending hours upon hours sewing, but I actually found it therapeutic in a way. I was so focused on making masks that I forgot about all of the other things I worry about. Helping the community is literally what fuels my fire. So this is my way to do it from inside my house.
Ahhh, the husband, my former coworker and faithful substitute teacher. He owns his own business, which I insisted was not essential. He installs car starters and back up cameras, tints windows, does car audio, NONE of which is "essential". Well, he caught me on a technicality, actually, one of the companies he services caught him on it. One little thing I forgot is that he installs and calibrates breathalyzers. Yup, those things you get in your car if you get arrested for a D.U.I. Well, Connecticut has VERY strict rules with these, and they need to be looked at and maintained frequently. It never occurred to me that first responders, medical personnel, and other essential employees would still need this service. One of the companies he worked with called him and said that people in his area had no where else to go, so he got to go back to work. At first I was terrified, but then I was relieved! He was a walking basket case when he was at home. He is a worker bee to his core and honestly does not know how to sit down and relax. It is an ongoing joke how he hates vacations because he can't work all day. So he is back at work, and happy to be staying somewhat busy. The one huge perk of his job is that he doesn't have to have any face-to-face interactions with people. So, he carries around Clorox wipes all day long and cleans each and every car he needs to service. When he gets home, he strips down in our mud room and goes directly into the shower. It still puts him at a greater risk of exposure, but it makes me feel better that he tries.
And because sharing stories of kindness is helping me through this, I have a few:
There is a wonderful person who is grocery shopping for those in our community. He received such an outpouring of love from people wanting to donate, he has been able to buy groceries for those in need and they don't have to pay a thing.
My coworkers and I were brainstorming ways that we could help feed families in our community and I reached out to friends who own a pizza restaurant asking if they would want to help. Without hesitation they jumped on board with a "whatever it takes" attitude. When I asked them what their limit was on how many they could make, they replied "there is no limit, we will make as many as there is need".
A friend of mine bought 17 pies from a local store and drove around town delivering them to people's driveways without them knowing.
Another friend of mine dropped off a forget-me-not on my front step.
Someone put a small painted rock in front of my mailbox with the word "love" on it. Simple and beautiful.
The outpouring of love and support I got from people for doing something as simple as sewing a mask was amazing. People reached out and wanted to help by donated fabric, thread, elastic and sewing needles. Other donated money which I was able to use to express ship masks to family and friends all over the country.
Last night, we lost power and our sump pump stopped running. Our neighbor offered us their generator so our basement would stay dry. They sat in candle light so our basement would stay dry! Seriously, I can't even put it into words. This kind gesture also made my husband realize that our next big purchase will be a generator, lol.
Maybe this nasty virus is helping our earth, and humanity, do some much needed healing. Love will always win, always...