I Miss....

Today, and every day recently, there are things I miss. I miss eating out at random. On the rare occasion we've eaten out I only eat at local places (where they have more at stake) and wipe everything down as soon as I get it. I miss grocery shopping in a store. I went inside Walmart for the first time in a month because I couldn't get an online pickup for days. I was calculated in my shopping strategies so I could get in and out as fast as possible. I miss browsing the aisles and not having to think about the best time to shop when not so many people will be in the store. I also miss shopping sans gloves and a face mask. How do healthcare professionals do it every day? Wearing those things make me so hot! I miss quiet. Even as I write this, the Roomba is running, the TV is on and P is listening to music. One, or both, boys are constantly talking to me or asking me questions. I crave quiet and I used to get up to an hour of it 5 days a week when I was teaching in my classroom. I miss seeing friends and giving them a hug...or talking without a 6ft barrier between us. What I miss the most is my students! It makes me sad when people post memes on social media about how happy teachers are that school got "cancelled" for the remainder of the academic year. That is not true. We worry about our students every day...if they're safe, if they have enough food, if they're feeling loved at home. That's why I get frustrated when parents complain about the FREE food they are sent to help feed their kids while all of this is going on. At least it's a small comfort to me, knowing my students will get some food.
What I love during this time is the fact that I've had time to get a ton of house projects done. I can't begin to tell you how many hours I've spent outside, cleaning up the front flowerbeds and backyard. What I love is time spent with the boys. While I do miss my quiet time, I am loving all the memories we are creating. What I love is our daily walks. I may not be able to get to the gym like I'd like but I'm walking 2-3 miles a day. What I love is how close Rob and I have gotten during this time. Whether it's watching our shows, sitting outside with the boys or just talking, it's been fun to talk about things other than our ratrace schedules that dictated our lives a couple months ago.
We lived through the historical Flood of 2016, but that was more at a local level. This is a global historic event. So I am trying to take more pictures of our time to document everything. Eventually, I will make it into a book for the boys so they can remember this time in detail. Here is some of our recent daily "events".....