Early in January, we all started hearing things about a virus in China. They shut down everything and it was a big deal over there. Over here, it was business as usual.... for awhile. It wasn't long before travel was restricted, before we started hearing a buzz about it, before the media started saying it was here, before a positive case happened, before school was canceled, before businesses were closed, and before we were ordered to stay at home.
So, here we are at home. No dance, no gymnastics, no baseball, no Taekwon Do, no going anywhere but the store. We are literally at home all day long.
The good things:
1. We are saving a lot of money on gas. We each fill up about 1x per week at about $65.00 - $70.00 each time and spend about $600-$700.00 a month on gas. I don't think I will fill up at all during the quarantine. I may save about $1000 on gas through April, so there is that.
2. My kids get a little break from very scheduled lives. We love our activities and I am sure we will head back to them, but they are intense. Ivy has gymnastics practice everyday for 4 hours. I pick her up from school early (at 2:40) and take her to the gym. She is done everyday at 7:00. Autumn has dance everyday... Monday - Pom, Tuesday - Ballet and Hip Hop, Wednesday - Ballet and Salsa, Thursday - Jazz and Tumbling, Friday - Company Practice, Lyrical and Tap, and Saturday - Tumbling. Owen has baseball four times a week and I try to make him go to Taekwon Do 2-3 times a week. We also have piano for an hour a piece. Add to that school and family life and there isn't much time for anything else. I looked at the clock when this all started and I came to the realization that for the first time in I don't know how long - maybe 13 years, my life was not completely controlled by the clock and the schedule. I don't know if I was depressed or free that time just went from meaning everything to meaning nothing, overnight.
3. The three of them have so much time to be together. Right now there is a shelter at home order and all non-essential businesses are closed. We literally have no where to go. With our schedule, they are all home different times and when they are all actually home together, they have to eat dinner and do their homework and get ready for bed. Today, they played Mario Kart with their cousins online for maybe 4 hours while connected to a zoom call so they could see and talk to each other and then they set up a new game in the living room - lie down on your back and fling stuffed animals over their head with their feet and aim for the laundry basket. They have been doing this game for 4 hours. 4 hours. I mean, the time Ivy usually is at the gym working out, they have spent that same amount of time flinging stuff animals over their head. So for 8 hours today they played Mario Kart and flung animals and that is considered a successful day. They record each session and then scream and yell when it makes it. I can't even imagine when or how this game would have existed before this. I think I just heard that they have 3 animals to make it in. I also keep hearing the name Franklin.
4. We are learning about animals together and going on walks. We have tried to set up a few things that we do must do each day. One of those things on the must do list is to watch a live video from the Cincinnati Zoo which highlights a certain animal everyday. So far we have learned about giraffes, porcupines, a bearcat, lions, sloths, red pandas, elephants, hippos, and an ocelot. We have also made a 30 minutes walk a required part of our day. We have a path and rain or shine, we walk. I think it is my favorite thing we do.
5. I am mindful that this is going to be a time that we will never have again. It is like we suddenly have permission to do nothing. Now, we actually have nothing to do but play video games, invent games together, make food, rest, sleep, read, write, be together, go on walks, stay up late, sleep in, do some school stuff, and set our own rules. I am sure before long we will be back in the thick of competitions, meet season, baseball games, and schedules where the clock rules the day, but for today, we will play flinging animal games, video games, resurrect my blog, mindfully take pictures of each day because I love it and not just because it is a habit, organize things that are long overdue for attention, meditate, journal, and just be. Angie and I taught so many yoga classes where we taught how important it is to just be and yet, that just feels so far away. For now, we will celebrate the 3rd to last animal landing in the basket at 11:00 at night and we will breathe it in and enjoy all of it. (Maybe the neighbors won't because that is some intense cheering this late at night. These last two animals may wake up the sleeping people... scratch that.... one to go... "FRANKLIN WENT IN!").
2 weeks down - unknown to go.
