Friendship in a pandemic
I haven't seen my bestie in 19 months. We've both had a pregnancy and a new baby since. Our older kids have grown so much that we haven't really gotten to know each other's kids as their interests have changed and personalities have developed.
When I think of the pandemic and all that we've lost, it's overwhelming.
When the pandemic first started, I had so much anxiety I didn't leave the house for weeks. I was pregnant too so all of my mama bear emotions were heightened, and the last thing I wanted was to get sick or get my family sick.
The weight of this pandemic is often unseen. It's not in just how we see our families changed from the lack of social interaction and heightened anxiety. The constant calculating of who is taking this pandemic seriously, who got vaxed, how many people they're also seeing, and weighing whether it's worth it to see them and risk the exposure.
The weight of this pandemic is also the sadness for time lost we'll never get back. The sorrow for people who never got to know your baby when they were still a baby. The collective sorrow for those undergoing far more trying times than we could ever imagine, on top of this pandemic.
The weight of this pandemic lies in the dark thoughts we have after the kids have gone to bed and you wonder how you'll keep your whole family safe and sane, and for how much longer all this will go on.
But then you have moments, like today, where you feel an incredible amount of normalcy and joy. As if it was JUST the other day that we saw other each other and like no time has passed at all! You see the kids swinging, playing with a ball, or refusing to get in a picture, and you have to laugh, remembering that the pandemic hasn't scarred them for life. That they haven't lost their way.
And neither have we.
Celebrate the joyful, hopeful, normal-as-can-be times! Hang on to those moments and stay hopeful as the fall approaches and uncertainties rise.
These are the moments I know I'll remember and hang on to, and tell my kids about when they're older too.
❓What's something joyful you've gotten to do recently?
