Corona Virus Quarantine Day #69: Remember When…May 27, 2020

Corona Virus Quarantine Day #69: Remember When?: May 27, 2020

What day of the week is it? Anyone? I think it’s Wednesday but it feels like a Saturday. Anyone else having a hard time figuring out the day of the week?

Anybody know that song “Remember When”? It’s a country song, Alan Jackson sings it and it’s awesome.

I have it in my head and on my heart. Covid-19 can do that to a person.

While I never know what day of the week it is, it’s been so long now I find myself thinking of “remember when’s” like playing sports, going to the store and not feeling uncomfortable or cookouts with friends.

These remember when moments make me miss normal. They make me want normal to come back.

Today several of the kids had a bit of a meltdown, in front of a friend. It was embarrassing. At first I was super upset. They acted like brats and lost their you know what for no reason.

As the day wore on, I felt less agitated by it. They are only kids. They made a mistake and they haven’t left the house for 69 days. They are feeling the impact of the corona virus in a way that I can’t understand. They can’t go to school. They can’t see their friends in groups. When they do get to see a friend it is 1 person at a time and they all want to latch on to them. Their “remember when” moments are about playing football at recess and winning CYO basketball games and going to birthday parties.

Through this whole thing they have been so good…they’ve played nicely together, helped each other, cheered each other on and grown up together. Today was a hiccup. One bad and quickly fleeting moment. The rest of the day they were great.

As a result of this outburst they lost their treat for the night and spent some time alone in their rooms. When dinner was over and the other kids were getting their treat, Ellen and Cooper reminded Daddy they couldn’t have one. We didn’t have to tell them, they told us and accepted that punishment with grace.

They are good kids. They had one bad (almost laughable) moment.

If you are a parent my guess is you’ve all had these days. Tomorrow we will wake up and we will see which version of the same day we will get.

This is hard. For everyone. For different reasons.

One day we will look back on all these moments and these months of quarantine and social distancing fondly and remember when we had days to go on long walks, play sports with our kids and snuggle at night to watch a movie.

One day our days won’t be riddled with questions of when things will go back to normal or if we will go back to school.

I remain hopeful that school and sports will once again happen and we will all be able to say “remember when” about Covid-19 and social distancing.

I’m guessing way more positive things will be remembered than negative.

My memories won’t be of one bad moment in the barn while playing basketball. Instead it will be of the s’mores by the fire, riding bikes through sprinklers, water gun fights, popcorn and movies, walks to the river and playing games as a family.

I hope yours will be too!