My family has been social-distancing or in quarantine for two months now, and it’s mostly been amazing. Having this extra time to slow down in our external lives and spend time together, has shown us all how much we love and more importantly — LIKE each other. My husband and I were joking the other day, that our family was built for worldwide crises because the last two months have been a breeze. Other than the occasional mild annoyance of being in a house with six other people, quarantine is one of the best things to happen to our family.
Before you get annoyed at reading how “perfect” my life sounds, let me clarify that it’s been a hot mess — there’s constant noise, the internet is running slow, our electricity bill has increased, and I can count on one hand the number of days my house has been clean. Despite all that, it’s been such an amazing experience and it has helped us all get closer and strengthen our bonds in our individual relationships.
There have obviously been disasters — e-learning has been a complete shit show, but we’re slowly learning to embrace and appreciate the beauty of things outside our control. Over the last few weeks, I have been taking inventory of all the things I’m grateful for and the list is long, but here are the top six things I grateful for during quarantine.
We’re safe and healthy.
It’s easy to get caught up in the chaos of everything that’s going on in the world, but the most important thing is that my husband, kids, and I are safe and healthy.
We have everything we need.
From stores running out of toilet paper to 20 million people losing jobs the pandemic has been devastating to people in the US and around the world. It’s eye-opening an humbling to see how much can change overnight, but I’m grateful we have the food, household goods, and jobs we need to make it through.
I’m able to work from home.
Having two full-time incomes and a business is a huge blessing, but we’re also thankful that we’re able to work from and be with our kids during a time that could be really scary, if we weren’t able to be home.
My kids spend more time together — and they actually ENJOY it!
I’ve always know that all four of our kids love each other, but it been amazing to see how close the tween and teen have gotten. Before the pandemic, they’d both have things to do and friends to see all the time, but being stuck together for two months has helped bring them closer — not only to each other, but their to their younger siblings too! THe go for walks arounf the neigborhood and stay up late watching movies, and it’s pretty darn cool to watch.
Movie & Game Nights
My kids spend more time together, but so does our whole family. My husband and I have at least four or five nights a week, where we’re playing games or watching movies together with the kids. We even throw karaoke in there sometimes. It’s so much fun to come together, laugh, and bust each other’s chops every night.
My marriage is better.
Before quarantine, our marriage was okay. Yep, it was just okay. We got along okay. Spending time together was okay.
After the pandemic hit and we were force to be together ALL THE TIME, and things start being better than okay. It started being good. I had the realization that I still really like my husband and it’s possible for us to have fun, even in the midst of a global crisis.
