Blessings & Gifts

“There are hidden blessings in every struggle” – Gladwire.com

I have decided not to beat myself up for not keeping up with my Blog. Truthfully I feel at times like I am just hanging on.

As I have shared in my previous blogs, I am struggling with the sadness of where the world is right now and all the issues we have been dealing with. Today, I have decided to focus on the good.

Quarantine has been tough on all of us. In one day the world suddenly stopped and we went from being grateful for a few days off, to all of a sudden being stuck at home for months. Missing the day to day things that we take for granted. All of a sudden just going to the grocery store became a major ordeal. As the world is starting to open up and we go back to our lives, I hope we live our lives better.

Some things I won’t miss at all about being quarantined at home, but other things I hope we hang onto as we venture into our new normal.

Obviously senior year was stolen from Molly. She had to miss out on all the things you wait four years to do. As with any teenager, Spring was a super busy time for her. Before quarantine, we would have been strangers passing in the night. Between practice, work, school and friends, I would not have spent any length of time just hanging with her. Throughout quarantine we took daily car rides every day. We had the same routine; stopping at dunkin for coffee, music blaring in the car and no particular destination in mind. We would drive, sing and talk every day. I loved that time with her. I cherished every second of those rides. I was truly sad by the turn of the events that gave us that time together, but so grateful that we got to do it.

As we were driving through town we would see tons of families walking, riding bikes and just being together. Although I’m sure family time is a priority with most people, family time changed. More parents were outside with their kids on a daily basis. In the normal day to day world we would be working, kids would be at school and then going on to whatever afternoon activity they had planned. Then dinner (maybe not all together), homework and bed. Quarantine changed all that. With so many working from home and kids not having activities, we had the time to go outside and simply take a walk.

Many families had Movie Night or Game Night. Something you probably would not do on a regular basis. We had family zoom meetings. A time for us to talk to family that we might only talk to on birthdays and holidays. We had dinner time together. I know one family that the kids took turns cooking. I loved seeing the Mom’s posts of what was on the menu that night. Normally we would cook dinner and then our family would just quickly grab and heat up between activities.

As things open up, I hope we remember this time. A hope we remember to appreciate each other a little more, make time to be with each other. Slow down and remember what is really important. As bad as this pandemic is, it has given us a chance to pause our life, rewind and remember what is truly important.

“Grateful for small things, big things and everything in between”