Stopping to be thankful
I'm sure you would agree that the news is fantastically depressing these days. I'm not panicking, but then I feel vaguely guilty that I'm not taking things seriously enough. Still, every time I pick up my phone, I find myself holding my breath a bit because you just never know what new latest disaster will appear. So, let's all stop and find the things we are thankful for in the midst of this truly bizarre world event.
1. My family is nearly all home, all the time. J. is working from home now and the college students are all home. The rest of us are already always home. B. is the only one that is currently missing, being employed with his own apartment. It isn't for lack of trying on my part, though, to get him to ride it out with us. Hey, we're already over the limit of social gatherings, what's one more?
2. My family generally gets along extremely well. I've watched my children of all ages play games together, do puzzles, color, bake, play video games, and watch movies together. I love watching them enjoy each other's company.
3. A sense of humor. If you can't laugh, then this is all going to feel much longer and more isolating. A. and some siblings decorated to the toilet downstairs to look like it had a face (two toilet paper rolls) and was smoking a cigar (empty toilet paper roll squashed under the seat.) They then went to tell their father that the toilet was smoking and that he needed to come down. J. admits that things like that never happen when he is away at work. Rest assured, no toilet paper rolls were harmed in this prank.
4. A sense of humor II. I have been seriously enjoying all the memes that have been created recently by non-homeschoolers who have suddenly found themselves homeschooling. It makes me think we homeschoolers-by-choice need to up our humor game.
5. Good books. We are over half way through Treasure Island together. I've been reading a couple of chapters every day, and usually each chapter ends on rather a cliff hanger. My favorite thing is to hear, "You can't stop now!" when I finish reading to them.
6. Food in the kitchen. We are well supplied. It is one less thing to worry about.
7. Places to be outside. I'm sure this is all much easier for us because when we go outside we are not going to run into anyone. J. and I took the dogs on a walk in the forest preserve behind our house this afternoon. It was a treat because we rarely get a chance to do that, especially not on a weekday.
8. Good friends. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I spent an hour and half talking to my very good friends (P. Family mom, H-S Family mom, and W. Family mom) on a conference call. We have agreed we now have a weekly standing date to do this. Yes, we could've organized this three years ago, but life gets busy. Now it's not. How odd that none of us needed to check our calendars to see if we were all free next week.
9. Medicine. Oh, how thankful I am for medicine. R. continues to be not right. Every afternoon is a struggle. But thanks to the rescue meds, we can generally bring it under control. It is extremely concerning, but it is still a huge improvement over where we were this time last year.
10. Horses in my backyard. We got the message today that lessons have been cancelled. It's understandable, but riding is a huge source of physical fitness and therapy for me. I'm going to hope for decent weather so I can ride more at home, and I'm so thankful that I have that capability.
There you go. It is not a short nor insignificant list. Writing it out does help to keep things in perspective. How about you? What are you thankful for right now, in the midst of this craziness?
1. My family is nearly all home, all the time. J. is working from home now and the college students are all home. The rest of us are already always home. B. is the only one that is currently missing, being employed with his own apartment. It isn't for lack of trying on my part, though, to get him to ride it out with us. Hey, we're already over the limit of social gatherings, what's one more?
2. My family generally gets along extremely well. I've watched my children of all ages play games together, do puzzles, color, bake, play video games, and watch movies together. I love watching them enjoy each other's company.
3. A sense of humor. If you can't laugh, then this is all going to feel much longer and more isolating. A. and some siblings decorated to the toilet downstairs to look like it had a face (two toilet paper rolls) and was smoking a cigar (empty toilet paper roll squashed under the seat.) They then went to tell their father that the toilet was smoking and that he needed to come down. J. admits that things like that never happen when he is away at work. Rest assured, no toilet paper rolls were harmed in this prank.
4. A sense of humor II. I have been seriously enjoying all the memes that have been created recently by non-homeschoolers who have suddenly found themselves homeschooling. It makes me think we homeschoolers-by-choice need to up our humor game.
5. Good books. We are over half way through Treasure Island together. I've been reading a couple of chapters every day, and usually each chapter ends on rather a cliff hanger. My favorite thing is to hear, "You can't stop now!" when I finish reading to them.
6. Food in the kitchen. We are well supplied. It is one less thing to worry about.
7. Places to be outside. I'm sure this is all much easier for us because when we go outside we are not going to run into anyone. J. and I took the dogs on a walk in the forest preserve behind our house this afternoon. It was a treat because we rarely get a chance to do that, especially not on a weekday.
8. Good friends. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I spent an hour and half talking to my very good friends (P. Family mom, H-S Family mom, and W. Family mom) on a conference call. We have agreed we now have a weekly standing date to do this. Yes, we could've organized this three years ago, but life gets busy. Now it's not. How odd that none of us needed to check our calendars to see if we were all free next week.
9. Medicine. Oh, how thankful I am for medicine. R. continues to be not right. Every afternoon is a struggle. But thanks to the rescue meds, we can generally bring it under control. It is extremely concerning, but it is still a huge improvement over where we were this time last year.
10. Horses in my backyard. We got the message today that lessons have been cancelled. It's understandable, but riding is a huge source of physical fitness and therapy for me. I'm going to hope for decent weather so I can ride more at home, and I'm so thankful that I have that capability.
There you go. It is not a short nor insignificant list. Writing it out does help to keep things in perspective. How about you? What are you thankful for right now, in the midst of this craziness?
Comments
Even though combining working from home, unplanned homeschooling and all the normal family tasks is quite a challenge, I'm really thankful for having my kids with me all the time for the next few weeks. :-)
Greetings from the Netherlands, Britta