How Are You? by BB
Are you like me and loving parts of this stay home order? Are you also like me and truly struggling with parts of this? I love the fact that we are have our dinners together and our nights totally relaxed! We don’t often have that in our “normal life”. Often times we have Bubba’s sports two school nights a week and Sissy has dance twice a week. That means I make them a quick dinner at about 4:30, we run around all evening, and then I have to make them another dinner/snack before we scramble to bed.
I feel torn about these activities. My kids LOVE their sports. I love that they are staying active and building relationships with new people. I love that they are on a team and get instruction from someone else. I love that they get to be competitive, because I hate competition. I love getting to meet new parents, I’m super social! I was the 4th of 5 children. I really wasn’t in any sports activities growing up. I can only remember one season of softball and one ballet class when I was very young. Times were different and my mom and dad had 5 kids. That would be so much chasing around it would be almost impossible. Now that we’re slowing down a bit I can really feel the value in this simplicity.
I got this fun book Would You Rather Game Book that we have been playing during dinner. It’s so fun! It gives us something to talk about and giggle about. The kids love it! Dinner is a time where we must focus on having fun and looking at the positives or we would sink into a hole of depression. Anxiety and depression can run really high in my household. I definitely struggle with anxiety and unfortunately my kids do too. I’m sure they feed off my energy.
One thing we have been doing is taking car field trips. What the heck we’ll go visit places I’ve heard about but have never been to. Or we just hope in the car and go. The beauty is it doesn’t matter. We have no place to be and no time limit. Last week we were having a rough day. The kids didn’t want to do their work. They were screaming and fighting me. I was crabby, tired, and just wanted to cry. So I messaged the teachers and said we were calling school for the day. They totally supported my decision to take care of our family. That our mental health was the most important thing. I so appreciated it. My kids have been doing all their work and that day, even if we finished, they weren’t learning anything.
So in the car we hopped. We grabbed lunch and ate in the car and we just drove. We live in an outside suburb of St. Paul and there is country near us. So we drove into the country and looked for eagles, animals, and other nature. We were renewed with just getting out of our house and taking a break. It’s amazing how this 1-1/2 hour drive pushed our attitudes in a different direction. That was when I knew we needed to do this at least once a week. We don’t use our tablets and either listen to music or podcasts and just take a minute.
So we are not only quarantined at home but we are also in the middle of a home renovation. I pushed to start it so it would be done by the time school was out. So much for planning. This week we had plumbers in the kitchen and I thought let’s get the heck out of here. So we headed to La Sueur, MN to see The Jolly Green Giant. Okay this wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be but I’ve heard about it so many times, I figured now was the perfect time. We also found this tiny house that was built by Dr. Mayo, of the famous Mayo Clinic. This was his house and his very first medical clinic. It was the cutest and tiniest house you ever saw. That was it then it was time to go home.
We stopped at a gas station for potty breaks and of course on a road trip you need treats. (Don’t worry there was tons of hand sanitizer used on this trip!). We even spotted “Santa” getting gas haha! Again, this trip which mostly consisted of us sitting in the car, was so much fun. We laughed and laughed! We sang and danced in the car. We were just us again. We were a family stuck at home trying to home school and get along in a disheveled home, now we felt like our normal fun selves. So if you are feeling stuck, get in your car and go! You don’t even have to get out. Social distancing is still completely followed and your mental health gets a break!
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Now there are parts of this Stay at Home order that I truly struggle with. I am someone who thrives on social contact. Not just phone calls but sitting with my friends talking, laughing, and sometimes crying. I don’t just like it, I NEED IT! I like being out in the world with my kids exploring. I always say I’m a stay at home mom that doesn’t like to stay at home. I feel I’m way more engaged with my kids when we are out and about because I’m not distracted by all the jobs I need to finish at my house.
For me this is really hard. I hate to say that because I’m not struggling financially. I’m not trying to juggle another outside job. I have plenty of food. I have super supportive family and friends. I have an incredible neighborhood. So why is it so hard? I wish I could just focus on the positive. I wish I was someone who could just brush things off. Unfortunately I’m just not. I FEEL ALL THE FEELS! Good, bad, and ugly.
Thankfully I have a husband who knows when I need a break. My oldest, Bubba, is doing pretty well. He is doing really well with his school. He has actually been struggling a bit academically so getting one on one time with me is benefiting him. Sissy…she’s like me, she needs her teachers and friends. She doesn’t want Mama pushing her. She is pushing every button ten times a day! And Little Man, well, he just keeps leaving the house to climb trees, ride a bike, and play on the dumpster…you guys he’s only three. Ahhhh!
I think what we all need to remember is to have kindness towards ourselves. Be patient with ourselves. And to be selfish a little sometimes. No one has ever been in this situation before. We have never been truly afraid to go into public for fear we may get some nasty virus that could kill us or someone we know. We’ve never had to distance ourselves from the people we love for such a long period of time. We don’t know or understand the long term effects that this virus will have on our world. There are so many things that will change. Please know that BB and Binks want to be here for you. Please reach out to us for anything. Is there a topic you want us to look into? Do you need support? Do you just need to complain? We LOVE engaging and interacting with our readers and followers. It fills our buckets and we want to fill your buckets. So love yourself and take care of yourself!
