I am not a crier. However, I just spent the last two Sunday’s going through a lot of my son Andrew’s stuff and crying profusely! He’s fine, we’re fine, everything is fine.
In a nutshell, we have first-world problems!
I feel so bad for Andrew! Like kids all over the world, he’s being home schooled until further notice. That means that we won’t be back to school until second grade (next year). This is difficult and necessary for many reasons. I won’t preach about social distancing. That’s not the point.
While ciphering through his things, I saw artwork, schoolwork, books, and a ton of memorabilia. It represents all the stages of his almost seven years.
Andrew is a serious extrovert!
He’s too young for social media. We only allow 30 minutes of tablet time per day. Play dates are out of the question until further notice. Instead, we play board and card games. We do math, read, cook, puzzles, play outside, construct Lego’s, et al. We’re constantly doing something.
Andrew is incredibly smart! He’s won several reading awards. He’s also funny, charming and sweet. Let’s be honest, my son could sell ice to an Eskimo. His teachers and fellow students love him!
I’ve volunteered with his school for the past two years. I know every child in his class. I know his teachers and the administration.
But here’s the problem: I am not a teacher!
Teaching my own child feels like I am rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic! Cue Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On.
I feel so many things right now!
I am grateful! Grateful for my family and the fact that we are healthy, have each other AND all our basic needs are met.
I love God, family and life!
I am usually optimistic. But my family is now on week four of hard quarantine due to the nature of my husband’s job. i.e. I leave the house once a week to get necessities.
I’m angry and sad.
I feel like my son and his classmates are missing out! Yes, graduating seniors have it worse. I’ve heard it many times. But elementary education is the foundation for almost everything you do in life. You can’t expect to put young elementary school kids on Zoom or any other media platform. They’re still babies!
My reality is that I am mourning my family’s life pre-pandemic virus! So are many of you.
There. I said it. Time to deal with it!
I’m tired of hearing that I should be grateful for what I have! I am. But that doesn’t ease this mama’s broken heart!
Like my son, I am an extrovert. I miss talking to the waitresses that run our favorite hole in the wall restaurants. I miss talking to people in the park. I even miss going to the grocery store.
I know that this is the kind of thing my son misses. The every day social interactions of life and first grade.
Reality check—life is like a rollercoaster. But that’s COLD COMFORT to a six-year-old extrovert!
The reality is that I WILL make it better for my son in numerous ways. I can help him learn about everyday life and continue to give him my full love and support.
BUT I CAN’T fix this situation! And isn’t that what every parent wants? To make everything better for their children!
In the meantime, I continue to make the lemonade that everyone on social media says I should be drinking.
My emotions are at Mach 3. I’m at the—Matthew McConaughey playing naked bongos as police arrive—level of quarantine. As we say in Austin, let your freak flag fly!
I realize that nothing will ever be the same.
I have no control over the virus, the political fallout or its socioeconomic impact on the world.
Here’s what I can control: my actions and reactions…
Each day, I thank God for all that I have! I ask what I can do to get my family and I beyond this situation. I hunker down and try to remember that this is temporary.
I practice social distancing. I try to spread joy! I listen to a lot of music. I watch the 80’s movies of my youth. I celebrate lives well lived. But most of all, I’m trying to embrace my serious case of cabin fever!
And right now, that’s all any of us can do.
Three Little Birds—Bob Marley
Don’t worry about a thing
‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright……
The Menopausal Mama 