I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat down to blog about this social distancing / self-quarantine sitch we are in. It’s a lot. But I don’t want to be the whine and complainer blogger—we have WAY too many of them. Distressing. So I’m going to list things I’m thankful for.
- My family is together. I know of several families unexpectedly separated, and I think that would kill me. Grateful to be with my babies and my love.
- Technology allows connection at an unparalleled level. We had more than a dozen friends and family members watch as we live-streamed our daughter’s first birthday cake smash. (It wasn’t very smashy, TBH, more like a gentle, single-finger cake poke.) We played Bingo this morning with over a dozen kids. We did Star Wars trivia with our neighbors. We played JackBox with our besties. We Facebook video my mom and mother-in-law from our backyard swingset. My son had a Zoom meeting with his whole fourth grade class.
- We are healthy. Despite my husband’s medical career, we are all asymptomatic.
- These are the best days of my dog’s life. It’s like early summer. MY BOYS ARE HOME, MY BOYS ARE HOME. But also, he’s at some weird canine fat camp since my gym is closed. He’s run soooo many miles with us, and it was an abrupt change from couch potato to elite athlete. Woof.
- We have what we need. We are currently running a little low on produce, but this is such a great excuse to carbo load. Mmmm bread. Also, so many people are not able to access what their families need.
- Around-the-house projects are getting done. The honey-do list is rapidly become a honey-done list.
- I work from home anyway. The marketing firm I’m a part of is remote anyway. We are doing more Zoom calls, but generally, it’s business as usual for me — albeit, with way more background noise.
- AMAZON. AMAZOOOOOON. AAAAAAAMAZON. Thank you, delivery peeps. Literally as I’m typing this, a man delivered diapers to my front porch.
- My sons’ teachers and schools. They are doing their best to connect with the kids in a massive way. My first grader’s school even did a car parade where the teachers looped the neighborhoods beeping from cars decorated with funny GO BOBCATS signs.
- My church. My church family is in CONSTANT communication. There are texts. There are videos. There are push notifications from the app. There are Facebook groups. There are Zoom Bible studies. We are hanging together as the body, despite a complete absence of the laying on of hands or any holy kiss.
Kelley and her husband Matt are foster parents and have two biological sons. She is the Vice President of Masterpiece Marketing in Lancaster, PA. Her second novel, Going Back Cold, was released in 2019. Read more at www.kelleyrosewaller.com.
