Your oldest is preparing for his SAT’s. Your second oldest is a sophomore at Riverdale High School. The baby in the family will be finishing up at Huntington Middle School in a year and a half. Who are these people? The last you knew, your oldest was starting kindergarten and the others…WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? While it may not be quite this dire in your own family, it is true that it’s easy to lose track of the passing of time. The stress of a marriage, a full-time job, aging parents, and once a week, league bowling makes for a constant drumbeat that fills the calendar. That’s why the pandemic, as hard as it is, can also be a time of rediscovering each other as a family. We are all in this together, after all. Let’s use the time wisely.
Rediscovering Relationships During A Pandemic
Rediscovering each other as a family may mean family far away.
It’s easy to lose track of our relationships and not just the ones within our own nuclear family. When was the last time that you picked up a phone and called someone just to chat? How much longer has it been since you called an old pal. Or, let’s really blow someone’s mind. When was the last time that you wrote a letter, complete with a licked envelope and 55 cent stamp? (Is postage really that high? Yes, it is.) These were things that we would do regularly in the way-back machine, and they are things that we could do again.
Get to Know Each Other Again
But, they are things that we must do intentionally. We have neglected these opportunities to reach out and touch someone, even though they are miles or a half of a country away. It isn’t your fault (Well, technically, it is your fault. But we’re all about second chances at Gildshire.), but it will be your fault if you don’t take this time to make it better. We’re all going to come out of this as different people than when we went in. The question is, will we appear out of it as better people.
Rediscovering the Joy of Taking Time
I don’t know how many people have told us that they are taking this one second in the span of a lifetime to exhale. Just the simple act of taking a deep cleansing breath and letting it out can be so refreshing. It is as if the world was washed clean before your very eyes.
If there are relationships that need mending, take this time to mend them. If there are hobbies that you have neglected, pick them up again. (After all, World of Warcraft just released Shadowlands. I have it on good authority that it is the best WoW land ever!). But mostly, this is the time to evaluate your place in the world. Of course, it’s tragic if you lost your job, even temporarily. So use this time to decide if that is the job that gave you joy or if it is a job that gave you a paycheck. There is a big difference between the two. You know that.
Rediscovering each other as a family is about all of these things and more. So stay distanced, masked, and out of harm’s way. The map won’t look this bleak for too much longer. When the coronavirus abates you will be ready for what comes next. We can’t wait to see you when that time comes.
