When talk of the Coronavirus first started, of course, it worried me. I am a natural worrier, so my mind went to terrible places. Two weeks ago, my husband stocked up on water, food, liquor, and yes, toilet paper, in the event that we would not be able to leave our house. I kind of laughed it off, thinking “this won’t happen…we will not be quarantined.” When the news dropped that YES, this is happening, the grocery stores were insane and we were stocked with the essentials.
Days 1 and 2 were Saturday and Sunday, and they were treated like any routine lazy weekend. The only difference: we did not see friends/fam like we normally do, no sports, and no dining out. We went hiking on Sunday to get some much needed fresh air and sun, but other than that we were homebound with food, drinks, and Netflix. I indulged, for sure. I was definitely in denial that my world was about to drastically change.
My dream in life has always been to work from home. I am a homebody. It is easy for me to work when the kids are at school and husb is at work. Zero distractions. Initially, finding out that there was an option to WFH during this madness, I was so happy and excited to avoid germs. No commuting, no sitting in an office all day long. It was going to be amazing.
Today is Day 4, and the second day working from home in this new reality, almost out of some weird sci-fi movie. I hate sci-fi BTW.
Luckily, my husb is a teacher and he is also home to help keep things in order. He still has to make lesson plans for his students, though. Our kids (1st and 4th grade) still have schoolwork to do. I have my own 40+ hour/week job to do. I read a post yesterday… it was something along the lines of “People are complaining because they actually have to take care of their own kids for once.” EXCUSE MEEEEE???? WTF!! That really struck a nerve. It is not easy to “take care” of our kids when we can’t give them our full attention. Being in a zoom meeting, knowing that my daughter is waiting outside of the door (not kidding), is how life is going to be for a while. We can’t hide it. It is what it is. We still have to feed them, answer their Q’s, do school work with them, play with them….all as if we had nothing else to do. So to the person who posted that…..you have no idea what you are talking about.
I thought work/life balance was hard before. I take it back. I would give anything to wake up early, and get the kids out the door at 8. To chat with my lovely neighbors at the bus stop. To commute my 45+ minutes to work, where it’s my only quiet time of the day listening to music or podcasts. Interacting with my work friends. Being able to go to Whole Foods for lunch without worrying about someone coughing or sneezing nearby. I miss my spin studio and my friends. Even though I complained a ton in the past about how hard life is as a working mom, this is another level of hard. To all of my friends who are balancing work and kids: we will get through this. We have to take it day by day. And when that sweet day comes, and we are all driving into work with the music blasting, we will be smiling. Until then, let’s take care of our damn kids and jobs as best as we can. CHEERS xo
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