I Wore This Yesterday

Today is the 36th day that my children and I have been in Isolation.

The 36th day of no school, no in-person shopping, no parks, movies, or gyms…

Really though, ask me how upset I am that Make Believe and The Jump Yard are closed…I hate those places anyway. Don’t judge me – you hate them too. They’re loud, germy, and when it’s time to leave, the kids act like you just asked them to cut off an arm.

Anyway…

It’s day 36.

It’s a Saturday and we have school work to finish.

I am normally a parent who likes to be on top of things. I pay attention to due dates and deadlines and try my best to make sure learning is happening.

But, ya know, it’s a new world right now. We are still figuring out that New Normal. And in OUR New Normal, school sometimes happens on Saturdays.

Yesterday, I woke up with an itch to organize. I know you’ve felt that before. You look at the same clutter day after day and then one morning you wake up and tell yourself, “it’s motherfucking time.”

I’m not going to lie…My kids spent all of yesterday looking pretty homeless. I let Little Guy and my daughter eat chocolate for breakfast and my oldest played Fortnite for a pretty unhealthy length of time. All three had unbrushed hair and teeth most of the day. Oldest wore only underwear until about 5:00. Play-Doh was smashed into Little Guy’s shirt and pants. My daughter wore a dress, stained with chocolate, milk, and soda.

Don’t worry. I looked pretty terrible too. Stretched out leggings, no bra, and 2-day old makeup. If there were a contest for worst Quarantine looks, I would’ve at least been in the top five.

But it’s day 36, and I regret nothing about day 35. I woke up with a mission and it needed to get done.

In searching for our New Normal, I have been struggling to get my own shit accomplished. I’ve been trying so hard to keep the kids engaged and feeling security that MY day-to-day has suffered. Yesterday, it was time to let go for a bit and take care of my itch.

I am certain no one felt neglected. The kids ate, they played, they got dirty. Their day may not have been structured, but they still spent it by my side.

I had tons of stuff to go through in our garage: Things to organize and throw away. Things to set aside for Hubs to deal with. Things I had to save before Hubs threw away.

Little Guy and his sister spent hours playing with Play-Doh and building with scraps of wood. Oldest played Fortnite and watched Netflix (there’s a TV in our garage).

My point is…

I accomplished things that I NEEDED to. And it was OK.

We skipped school for the day, but it was OK.

At the end of the day, everyone still seemed fulfilled. No one whined that we didn’t have fun. No one cared that we took a school day off.

It was OK.

And on day 36, it’s still OK.

This is OUR New Normal.