Pandemic Habits- What I'm Going to Keep

A lot of things changed during March 2020 for us. We had virtual drinks with co-workers and virtual game nights with friends. Remote learning for the kids. Remote working for the adults. Everyone doing their best to find a quiet-ish spot in the house. We also started birthday drive-bys, and keeping disinfectant and masks in the car. We stopped going to the grocery store. The kids sadly stopped their sports. We are all sporting quarantine hair; for my son that means he let me cut his hair, but only because it was annoying him. There is some barometer for annoyance there but I don’t know what it is. My daughter is unintentionally sporting a Marsha Brady vibe. The kids are FaceTiming their friends more often and screen time restrictions have gotten pretty lax around here. It’s not great.

It has me wondering what are we going to keep doing (or not) when the country is in a safe place?

I know we will keep supporting the local restaurants and businesses because we always have. I will make a real effort to lean on Amazon less. We’ll keep the grocery delivery/ pickup. I miss family birthday parties but I’m pretty sure no one is blowing out the candles anymore. I miss pedicures so I’m honestly looking forward to getting that professionally done, and a great haircut/ color. I plan to continue to tip extra well; too many people depend on tips. I think I will continue to be extra cautious about germs and be more vigilant about hand washing but I really look forward to not washing groceries. I’m going to keep the more frequent walks with friends but look forward to doing it without a mask. I hope we all continue to check in with each other.

Ooooh, vacation. I miss traveling. I’m not going to be the first on a plane but soon after. I miss the adventure of travel that’s more than a day trip. We’ve done all the day trips. There are no more places we can go for a day from our house. I miss visiting my parents in their house and having the kids spend a weekend with them, knowing they are more than likely having breakfast cookies. I miss hugging my parents and I know I’m not alone. Some people haven’t even seen their parents for more than a year in real life. I’m grateful they have a good sized backyard and mild weather.

The kids are closer and I really hope with my whole heart that continues. They learned 300 rummy and Throw, Throw Burrito. We’ve done a million puzzles. I’ve really enjoyed the extra time with them and I’m going to make more of an effort to find the joy in those little moments. Even if it means I have to create them.

I’ve taken some time to do the things I want to do. Not big projects like learning a new language or how to play the ukulele, but other things. I like baking when I have the time so I’ve actually made quite a few things. I love ceramics so I’ve been working on some clay projects that will never see the light of day but it’s so fun. It’s constantly a challenge to not be down on myself, thinking I should be doing something more, something better. So I’d like to leave that in the past but I’m not waiting on a vaccine for that. I just need to work on myself and myself is a work in progress.