Much Needed Vacation

Starting back at the beginning. When it was first announced that we would be under Quarantine it was only going to be for a couple of weeks and then we would return to our normal lives. With this information I immediately felt some relief from all the stress that had built up slowly over the past few years. To back up a bit, four years ago I decided to get a job at the Elementary school where my youngest attended at the time. After accepting that my kids were growing up way too fast and now they were full time in school I decided I too would get myself a full time job. I wanted something that would bring in some extra income but also would allow me to have enough of a flexible schedule that I could still be around for my children. It wasn't long after starting my full time job that I realized what an adjustment it would be. I find it so crazy that I will be going on year 4 working full time and I am still adjusting. Being a stay at home Mom for 12 years and then entering the workforce was way harder than I imagined. Don’t get me wrong I love my job and the kids I get to work with. I also love my co-workers but my reality was less than perfect. With that said, I was running on low for way too long. The idea of being able to have a few weeks off of work sounded refreshing and  for a brief moment I felt relaxed and happy. But only for a brief moment. The very next day we received news that by Governor Bakers orders we would remain in Quarantine until April 7th. All of a sudden I felt trapped. My anxiety began to rise in a way I hadn't felt in a while. My chest began to tighten, breathing became cumbersome. The walls seemed to begin closing in all around me. From that day on it was all down hill. I didn't even get a week of relaxing. Determined to make the most of it I did what I know best, make a list. A list of ideas on what we could do. Try to embrace things and accept them for what they were. The first thing I decided to fill my time with was exploring my hand at sketching. Art has always been something special to me but I had never really done much myself regarding drawing and painting. It was a fairly new experience and surprisingly I found that I had a hidden talent for it. I spent two weeks sketching, painting and dragging my kids into it with me. I followed a favorite author Jarrett Krosoczka on his daily Youtube drawing videos with my children. It was fun to explore this new talent and to see what I could do. It became annoying to my family and to go along with my high spirited personality I quickly became bored and obviously needed to move on to the next project. That's for another post though. Enjoy some of my art work and some that we created as a family. It definitely helped distract me for a short period of time. 

Quarantine 2020

Wow!! It’s so crazy to visit this blog and to see all the memories. I’m super excited to revive this with new updates and of course lots of pictures. I wanted to preface before I started sharing the past couple of months because I didn’t want it to seem as if the past 76 days have been easy or glorious in any way. It has been rough but like everything hard in life, time can reveal a whole new perspective on things. A few days ago as I was scrolling through the photos on my phone trying to find one I wanted to send to my sister; I discovered how much I had done in the past 76 days of Quarantine. I only then realized looking back in time through these photos that as agonizing as I had been feeling, my days  actually had been filled with lots of productive projects and of course some nice family memories. Anyone who knows me well knows I struggle to focus and see the positive on a day to day basis (something I am diligently working to improve) however I am able to both acknowledge and accept that about myself. I struggle with depression and anxiety, which I discovered is not a good combo during a Pandemic where you are forced to isolate yourself. It took a lot of strength to keep myself busy and to continue to find things to fill my time so I would not find myself in a dark pit of despair. So, along with the rest of the world I learned to maneuver my new normal by attempting to keep my kids on track with school work while still backing my philosophy of independence and natural consequences. By the way, I think my philosophy is frowned upon by most teachers, especially in our town!😜 Figuring out my new role as a paraprofessional in remote learning🤣 and then the normal things of feeding my family (apparently being home all day means I must provide many meals for my family🙄), doing chores and then of course filling the remaining 12 hours of my day! I am excited to share what will sure to be way too many posts from the past 76 days which I shall call My Journey through Quarantine as seen through rose colored glasses. Sit back and enjoy the ride!