Quarantine Chronicles

 There is currently a small, toy children’s mop drying in the downstairs shower.  It is drying out because (b) decided yesterday he would dunk it in the toilet so he could mop the carpet in the basement living room.  Where was his momma while this was happening? Teaching math.  From the computer in my basement office. 

 

As is the case with MANY families I know, a COVID diagnosis landed us in lockdown and I was NOT prepared for the fact that it would take a much more difficult toll on my mental health than my physical health.  The home we love, with acres of land to enjoy, sits way back off the road in the woods… where no company can bring us internet that is any faster than the equivalent of dial-up.  For day to day emails and such it isn’t a big deal, but when it comes to working full time remotely it is a TOTALLY different ball game.  And so, we improvise.  My school is fully remote right now, so along with a live Google Meet daily I am also spending HOURS a day making instructional lesson videos… from my CAR in the school parking lot where I can access high speed internet.  It is working- but is definitely the most unconventional thing I have done in my whole career. 

 

From home, I can use my dial-up speed hotspot to access the things I need in my Google Suite for Education so I can check student work and post many of my daily assignments.  I have also found a way to film my math lessons from home so that all I have to do from the car is upload them.  While teaching remotely will NEVER be my preference, I feel like I mostly have figured out how to make it work.  What I do NOT have figured out is how to teach full time and “mom” full time from the same space. 

 

The mop incident was just one of many crazy adventures I was not prepared for. (a) is my HGTV watching buddy in the evenings, so he can quote nearly every commercial for cleaning products that are in our house.  And he has been breaking into the locked cleaning supply cabinet and emerging with products as he quotes all their benefits and uses while begging to use them.  He has used so much glass cleaner on our sliding doors that there is a film instead of a sparkle.  There are some sections of kitchen tile grout that are quite clean from magic erasers and he would like to go through every Swiffer mop pad in the house.  I think they are intentionally making messes on the carpet because he is just dying for an opportunity to use some rug cleaner.  He is also using the opportunity of my work distraction to raid the cabinets and refrigerator.  I’m sure they have consumed more junk food than I even knew was in the house, and seem to think our kitchen is an endless buffet.  In the meantime, (b) is dragging shoes from every closet and wearing them around the house and trying to jump rope with random cords he is unplugging from the wall.  And in my state of mom “survival mode” I have mostly just ignored, tried not to cry, and intervened only for safety issues. 

 

Quarantine with children is NOT for the faint of heart.  My hats off to all the families juggling work from home and remote learning- ya’ll are rock stars.  However, there have been some sweet moments where I have looked up and caught (a) reading to (b), found them eating cheese sticks and strawberries under a blanket in the sunshine, or (a) working hard to keep practicing writing his letters and working letter puzzles. 

Yes, we will survive (though I might emerge with a few more gray hairs than I started with).  (A) and I are officially free, and the boys only have a few days left.  We are thankful that our health situation was VERY mild, and we will be very thankful to put our Quarantine Chronicles as a humorous memory from the past instead of the stressful reality of the present.  Now I better go find out what that crash was in the hallway…

 

“Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” Psalms 54:4