Time Capsule

One day, many years from now, my grandkids will ask me about the COVID-19 pandemic. They will have read about it in school and will have a list of questions to ask me so they can learn more about what life was like during the 2020 quarantine. The memories of #stayathome will rush back just like they do about the Challenger tragedy and September, 11th. We will all sit down and string the black and white memories we retained and together form our family’s quarantine story. What events will I remember? What events will shape my kids? Hopefully not my cooking… that may take some therapy to get past.

Home School

I will always remember the realization that I was not a teacher and was certainly not smarter than a 5th grader! Math is completely different than it was when I was in school and I don’t even understand the bubble charts or whatever it is they use in ELA. There are a lot of passwords to remember for all of the 15+ programs schools use. Think Through Math, Epic Books, Google Classroom and all of the other learning tools that require a unique username and password. Parents became personal assistants to their kids to manage school work. Kids shushed their families and excused themselves to their room so they could have privacy during a Zoom meeting.

With Middle School and High School work I was no help… see above, I couldn’t figure out 5th grade.

The kids will likely remember sleeping in each morning and doing their school work in their PJs on the couch with a bowl of Fruit Loops. They will remember not having after school activities in the evening and on the weekend. My kids will look back and remember the feeling of missing their favorite teachers and their friends each day. For my youngest he will remember that he went on spring break and then never returned to the elementary school he attended for 6 years.

Forced Family Fun

We will ALL remember the together time. The endless together time we had every morning, every afternoon and every night. There was nothing to do, no one to see and no where to go. It was just us. For a typically busy family who had just spent a week together on spring break it was a lot. Especially at first.

We played board games. One game we ordered was COMPLETELY inappropriate and we laughed until we cried trying to play it. There were family Fortnite games with the screams coming from rooms all over the house. We heated the pool and swam, ate a lot of ice cream, watched a lot of TV and movies. We kept vampire hours and were all a little feral.

We Ate Everything

Quarantine was all about the food! It was like an all you can eat Vegas buffet packaged in snack packs and to go containers. Our family did our part to keep Whataburger in business. My oldest son, Dylan, snacked after everything he did. Play a Fortnite game, get a snack. Do some math homework, get a snack. Thank goodness he has a great metabolism.

We baked. We had muffins for breakfast, brownies for dessert and cupcakes and cookies for snacks. The Quarantine weight started to creep up and we had to shut the oven down before my 600 pound life was alerted to our family.

Workouts

Once we ate everything in sight that contained carbs, sugar and icing, we realized we had to start moving. Going from a super active family to a pod of slugs was not working for us. I’m sure we will all remember our family cross fit sessions. In honor of the kids calling my husband Robert, “Bear” (short for Daddy Bear), we called it Bear-Fit.

My youngest son, Will, rode his new bike a lot. Everyone jumped rope in the driveway. And all of us walked the dogs until they stopped getting excited when they saw the leashes come out.

As soon as it was allowed, my daughter, Genna, started playing sand volleyball outside. Not being able to play for so many weeks was mentally tough on her.

As much as quarantine work outs were not fun, I hope the kids remember them and how important it is to keep moving. Even when we didn’t feel like it.

Social Distancing

Before COVID-19 our house was always full of extra kids. Almost overnight friends had to stop coming over and we couldn’t even see them anywhere else. The term social distancing became a “thing.” After a few weeks we hosted a social distancing lunch for Genna’s birthday party. We let Will ride his bike to have a social distance ice cream cone. I know we will all remember the loneliness and isolation we felt being removed from our tribes.

Sealing the Capsule

We are at the beginning of the end right now hopefully. Where we live, life is slowly returning to normal. Businesses are opening up and we can go out to eat. The kids have seen a few select friends and home school is nearing the end of the regular school year.

We can’t trust that this momentum will continue. School still may not start on time and sports may not resume. Who knows if we will be able to go on vacation this summer. We may have to take a step back to continue forward.

I doubt my kids will have permanent scars from quarantine. This experience certainly will leave a last impression though. My daughter told me after seeing her best friend for the first time in 2 months, “Mom, I know I can get through anything now.” Hopefully she even means my cooking.