Home with the family

Let me give you some background about myself…beside that I love burgers. I am in my 40s, married for 17 years and have 2 amazing daughters, 8 and 10 years old. We live in a nice neighborhood and have lived here for more than 10 years. Our daughters go to elementary school that they love.

We have been stuck in the house for 3 weeks now and we are definitely showing signs of strain. There has definitely been a lot more screen time. We have also allowed the kids to turn our dining room into an art studio. Initially, the school did not give a lot of direction on what the kids should be doing at home to keep up with their school work. That changed once the state government extended the school closures till May (hopefully just till may). Our girls have actually been wanting to go back to school, so maybe there might be something positive that will come out of the quarantine. When they are teenagers and don’t want to go to school, they might remember 2020 and will change their minds. Yeah, probably not.

My wife and I are learning that we are good at handling long periods of time together. Of course there has been some “discussions”, but we have dealt with them and moved on. The kids also see ow we are dealing with difficult situations and how we compromise. Maybe they will learn something. I admin that I look for the silver lining where ever I can.

Socializing has been difficult. It has been limited to FaceTime / Skype. The school has done a great job of connecting the kids to each other. My wife and I have been talking to our parents, cousins and friends on FaceTime. Not a perfect solution, but it works better than expected. We have had calls with 10 calls and 35 to 40 people talking at the same time. It really was a good simulation of how my family communicates when we are all in a room together. Did I mention that my family is pretty close.

Well, I find myself rumbling, so I am going to end it here. I will try to follow up with focused entries. For anyone who is reading this, please stay safe and healthy. We are all in the together.