But Wait, There’s More!

It seems like every day there is a new stat. A new country on lockdown. Another life lost. Groups of people who rally to help the less fortunate while others hoard 15,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to sell for profit. There’s always…more.

Now schools are closed. Parents are being asked to homeschool while simultaneously trying to keep up with their day jobs working from home…or worse, being asked to choose between working outside of the home to provide for their family or caring for their child while the world tries to slow the spread of coronavirus. With the elderly population one the most vulnerable – like my 92 year old grandfather – we are watching, with breath held, the potential risk of losing an entire generation of people. Not to mention the clear caste system in full effect, knowing that the millions of children that rely on free meals at school may otherwise be going hungry and won’t be able to keep up with their peers via remote learning because they lack the technology resources to do so.

Granted, I’m only on Day Five of this new norm and I would consider myself on the very fortunate end of the spectrum to still be able to provide for my family while working remotely (thanks to a wonderful boss and a flexible employer) and care for my son. I have the luxury of hoping I become a better mother, wife and employee, and I will try to use this situation to learn how to set boundaries between work and home that I’ve otherwise blurred in favor of the former. If anything, I feel like I’m doing a better job shutting off at night to spend uninterrupted time with my family, and I’m doing it by getting an early start each morning with time I would have otherwise dedicated to getting ready for work, school dropoff and commuting. The homeschooling feels like it’s going to kill me at times, but the support I’ve found online from friends and neighbors has been amazing. Even though we’re isolated, we don’t have to be alone.

We’re all struggling in our own way, and the news is more surreal and terrifying every day. Just when you think the worst has happened, there’s MORE. Like others, I have to keep reminding myself that this will end eventually. There will be a turning point for good…we just have to get there, together.