The people who a couple of months ago were being told they were 'unskilled' are now front line key workers, and the once 'skilled' are now working from home at best, furloughed, redundant at worst.
Anyway, this isn't technically a COVID-19 post, but it would be foolish to pretend that that is not dictating our lives right now!
So, where are we at?
Well, the kids finished school on March 20th so we are five weeks into our 'home schooling' journey - a journey with seemingly no end and varying degrees of success. Am I winning right now? No, not at all. Do we have good days? Of course! But this is definitely not my natural forte and I am very (can I emphasise that enough?) keen for schools to reopen - as soon as it's safe, of course.I would like to be one of those mums who are methodically working their way through Pinterest activities, whilst simultaneously completing all the tasks that the teachers have set, and managing to do holistic, domestic goddess type 'life-skills' at the same time. I'm not. Ruby reads and does her maths game daily, but anything in addition to that is a bonus right now!
Joel - who now has a confirmed school place in September - is likely to be found watching YouTube Kids in his PJs at 2pm - I hope some of that stuff is marginally educational.
I started off lockdown working from home. At that point, I was juggling a lot so I guess I had an excuse. Since the Easter weekend, however, I've been furloughed so my excuses fade into the distance and we can accurately say that anything getting done is solely down to my levels of motivation on the day!
Of course, I'm probably being slightly hard on myself, but I don't want to pretend everything is a bed of roses right now. Yes, I love my kids. Yes, I massively value their education. Yes, I am enjoying this time together. But real talk, I just want everything to return to normal... soon!
Meanwhile, Jon is working his usual 9-5 from home. He is being fantastic at juggling everything and tolerating our (many) interruptions! In amongst it all, he has also completed his final module for the year (hurrah!) which means for the last couple of weeks he's been more available for us - this has helped massively. He'll return to his studies in September.
Every evening we go for a family walk as part of our daily exercise. That, that there, is the highlight.
Each day we muddle through, feeling guilty for not doing enough, but we try to keep our focus on God. I definitely have a post in the works of the things I've been learning through it all!
But for now, here's some positives:
- The weather has been fantastic. If we have to be locked down, at least we can be in the garden and enjoy some amazing walks.
- I love how pollution has dissipated - the air feels cleaner and the atmosphere feels quieter.
- We have had the opportunity to do jobs that we would never otherwise do. It takes us time, we're not overhauling the house in a weekend, but simple things like decluttering a cupboard, or deep cleaning the bedroom make me feel like I'm achieving something.
- I think we have become more considerate of each other, we are more polite, more grateful for the things that each of us do.
- The kids are learning to compromise. They have realised that they are each others' only playmate. If they don't compromise, no one wins. They are happier, they get on, so much so that they now want to share a room!
- We are more active - I hope our daily walks become a new habit.
- We are actually saving money! Less eating out, less transport means that we can prepare for any temporary hardship that might come up in the future - which removes the worry.
- I feel like we are more intentional in our relationships. We make a point of arranging a call, or knocking on the door when we go for our walks for a quick socially distanced chat. We're isolated, but we feel less so (plus, I'll be an expert in all the conferencing apps by the end of this!
- Church has gone virtual. Don't get me wrong, I am a big believer in real life attendance and being anchored into a home church - but for many people that's not always possible and lockdown has nudged the global Church one step closer towards catering for those people. It's reaching people who wouldn't ever make it through the doors otherwise, and giving seekers the opportunity to 'try before they buy'.
One thing I have found massively difficult, is the constantly shifting routine. But I'm trying to create systems and plans in our day, and part of that is to update this blog more often - watch this space!
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