Hello from Home by Elsie

For most of us with kids or who work in a school, school is still doing remote learning, and social isolation is still very much in place, even as some places around the country are loosening the rules on staying home. It’s very easy to focus on all the things we’re missing out on, isn’t it?

This time of year is especially loaded with special events: graduations, weddings, spring sports, and upcoming trips. In my extended family alone, I could probably list off the top of my head at least two dozen special trips and events that have been canceled, including three commencement ceremonies, international trips that have been planned for years, and special sports seasons. My husband just found out that two big hydroplane races that we were going to attend on a 5000-mile road trip this summer have been canceled. Our list, and your list, I’m sure, could go on and on. So, how do we keep our focus on being grateful for the good things God is still giving us, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves?

Maybe you and your family, along with mine, can flip this conversation on its head. Instead of dwelling on all that’s been lost, perhaps we can focus on what we will miss when this season of social isolation is over. Because it will be over, someday, right?

After taking an informal poll, here are some things that people I know will miss:

• Time to do art, like my friend, Elsie, pictured here doing screen painting with her mom, Sandy. Aren’t those vintage-inspired postcards of places near her home in Seattle the coolest?
  

  Elsie’s “Vintage” Home Postcards

  

• Family time, say many kids and parents. My niece, Annika, adds, “especially time with Pippi (the dog), and Aidan (little brother), I guess,” .
• Books! And time to read
• Snacks in the kitchen
• Being outside, practicing new skills, like rollerblading, watching the birds and waterfowl on daily bike rides and walks to a nearby pond
• School only lasting three hours every day
• Doing school work with my little brother
• Having flexibility during the day to go outside when it is nice
• Eating dinner earlier and being able to go outside for a long walk after dinner.
• No commute to the office that eats up large chunks of time (even two hours a day, in some cases!)
• Having time during the day to cook yummy meals that require long roasting or simmering times, usually impossible to do when working an 8-hour day at school.
• Enjoying our neighbors more, like the “Quarantine Birthday Party” in the driveway we attended across the street last night. They served “Covid-19 cookies”—Oreos dipped in white chocolate with adorable marzipan facemasks on the top—and everyone chatted at safe distances apart.
• My daughters taking turns in the kitchen each week cooking dinner and doing the dishes.
• Time to work on my book

What will you and your family miss about this time? If you anticipate more months at home, with summer camps and other activities canceled or postponed, perhaps this list and your own thinking about what you will miss will help you to not only be grateful for this time, but maybe even excited about what you still have time to learn and do!

God bless you as you and your family continue to wade through these uncharted waters.

Sonja Anderson