Our “new normal”

I haven’t written in awhile, because truthfully, I haven’t had too much to say.

Quarantine has been tough on all of us in different ways, so I guess it felt like the same old story, no matter what I wrote about.

The thing is, we were supposed to get back to ‘normal’ eventually. I think we all assumed by now, we’d have this all figured out.

Nope. Not even close.

Now we wear masks everywhere we go, and although they aren’t covered, no one seems to look each other in the eye anymore. The masks hide our smiles, but not our tears and frustrations.

Now our children are supposed to learn virtually or go to school with a mask on all day. Now we are, not only, adding support to our teachers, but also, tech support on programs we’ve never been trained on, or even used, all while working from home ourselves and taking care of babies. Now we fear for our little ones everyday, and not because of Covid-19. We fear for their sanity. We fear how this is changing them.

I don’t know about you, but I am beyond upset about the state of our country right now. We are so divided. We are so broken. Many of us are riddled with anxiety. Many are angry. Many are depressed.

One thing I think we can all agree on, is that the children are suffering the most from this pandemic. Some are going to school in masks, unable to see their teachers smiles, unable to hug their friends.

Some are home all day trying to learn on a computer that keeps glitching, kicking them out of their online classroom, while their baby sisters distract them and their mothers drink wine or eat their feelings all day in frustration. Or is that only in this house?

Some parents have been forced to send their kids to private or Catholic schools, because they both work full time. Some, like myself, are scaling back our hours, to be home with our children during “school,” but feel like prisoners in our own homes. We are afraid to curse, not have on a bra or be caught bending the wrong way on camera.

Today, I was wearing my pajamas and getting my coffee and realized my bottoms were kind of short and Gabbie’s class on Google Meets may have seen half my ass. I know another mom who was caught on video breastfeeding.

I’m not sure I will ever get used to this “new normal.” All I know is that we need to guide our kids through this the best way we can. We need to support each other and stop getting sucked into the divide that is forming on social media and spilling out into the rest of our lives.

We need to vent, cry, take breaks when necessary, go for a walk or Marco Polo or FaceTime when lonely or frustrated. We need to get through this. Because there has to be a light at the end of this tunnel we call 2020…right?