My apologies for not posting in a very long time.
It has been a strange spring for us, as it has been for everyone. Completely unprecedented–except not so much in our case.
Some of you may not know, or remember, but my husband and I were in Taiyuan during the SARS epidemic, so this is our second spring of shutdowns, mostly staying at home waiting for a strange new disease to pass, and wondering if are seeing the beginning of the end of the world.
The world managed to keep that genie in the bottle, of course, and after a few months of lockdown, we were able to continue on with fairly normal lives.
This is different, of course. There’s better technology for continuing some semblance of our normal lives (we have online jobs, online school, online church, online critique group). Some things haven’t translated well to online. All our kids miss their school friends. K missed out on playing Ariel in her school’s performance of The Little Mermaid. She also finds some online classes far less than satisfying. (Choir and ballet are the hardest for her to adjust to in the new format.) And she’s heartbroken that she never got to say goodbye to all her friends that will be heading to different high schools than hers next year. B missed the big honors fair that his school does in the spring–and the chance to show off the programming board game he made. J has missed the second half of his lessons with a genuine driving instructor (rather than his parents).
There have been some good things, of course–Times spent together playing cards, baking, gardening, and walking the dog. We’ve enjoyed fairly good health. We still have work. We’ve been in touch with extended family.
These last couple of months have been hard for us, as they have been hard for many, but we have much to be thankful for.
And, as I keep reminding myself, this too will pass.