Photo by Dillon Shook on Unsplash
The bedroom is an office. The dining room is a school. The kitchen is a commissary. The backyard is a playground. The neighborhood is our world.
This is the new normal, and I’m absolutely content with it. Sure, I want my girls to be in school and my wife back teaching, but what can you do? They say to stay inside and only go out for what you need. So, that’s what we are doing. We are heeding the warnings and relishing this extra, unplanned family time. We also want to support and respect those who are on the front lines battling this crisis every day.
This doesn’t stop us from ordering beer from our favorite breweries and food from our favorite restaurants or even making trips for groceries. It just means we are very intentional about leaving the friendly confines of the Vollintine Evergreen neighborhood.
In the beginning, I was miserable. You see, I worked from home before all of this, and once my family was out of the house in the mornings I could curate my own work environment. First and foremost, it consisted of music and a clean and tidy house. Losing my routine and control of my work life was creating all kinds of stress and anxiety. I couldn’t quite figure out when was work time and when was family time or chore time. Everything was intersecting all at once and causing me to become overwhelmed.
Control is a funny thing. After checking in with my therapist this week via Zoom, I’m giving myself a pat on the back for letting go. Maybe not all the way because I do love a clean and orderly house, but ultimately I’m doing better at not sweating the small things. I’m also savoring the little moments, like when Beatrice recently said, “When coronavirus is over, can we head straight to the fair?”
That’s our first stop, I told her. But who knows when normal will rear its beautiful head. In the meantime, we will keep riding our bikes, taking long walks with the dogs, grilling, leaning on technology to stay connected with work and family, praying for a vaccine, and ultimately, taking a breath every day to appreciate this unprecedented time. One day we will get back, but who knows when and what that will look like.
Jeff Hulett is a freelance writer, musician, and PR consultant in Memphis. He lives in the Vollintine Evergreen neighborhood with his wife Annie, two girls Ella and Beatrice, and two dogs Chalupa and Princess Freckles.