As many of us watch plans and events get canceled and our world becomes disrupted after the threats of spreading COVID-19, it’s hard not to imagine what the next few weeks will bring when it comes to the inevitable: just staying home.
We received word that our three boys would be out of school at least through March 30. After logistics were worked out, we realized quickly how much of a change “social distancing” would bring to our family that spends so much time on the go.
Having nothing going on seemed simple enough at first. My husband loves to stay home. I even bought him one of those cute, wordy signs for our house reading “Let’s Stay Home” that ironically hangs right by the hockey gear. He was excited about having zip on the calendar — a rarity for the normally bustling Massingill family.
This was supposed to be a “slow” weekend for us regardless. We just finished up 6 months of hockey with three boys; the only things to do before the start of spring soccer, track and baseball were watching the girls play state basketball, our school’s PTO fun fair and a trip to see “Wicked” at the Overture.
They were all canceled before the weekend started.
By the time Saturday rolled around, it felt strange to have nothing — not even a grocery trip or a haircut — to break up the day. We announced the inevitable news to the boys as it came in, and as time passed, almost everything anticipated in coming weeks including field trips, shows, concerts and other events were put on hold, if not canceled completely.
It was hard to absorb at first. It’s the first time we’ve been frozen in the midst of the hectic life we’ve come to love.
For myself and my husband, being home became more about looking around at unfinished projects. Brent began working on some storage cabinets he started at Christmastime. After my typical weekend duties, I couldn’t help but notice some things myself. Now that I wasn’t wondering who needed new cleats, or if I’d signed up, paid fees, or scheduled work around that field trip, my focus also changed. We’d moved into the house almost four years ago, but hadn’t even hung curtains.
As the boys moaned and groaned about not being able to go anywhere, I kept them in check. I reminded them that even Disney was closing. If nothing else, this family needed to find some perspective and it wasn’t hard. Our disappointments are minuscule to what others are going through — not to mention the fear the people and parents of those who are immunocompromised are experiencing.
Our three boys took longer to settle in to the news that continued to pour in. Groans of “I’m bored” and “I’m hungry” got old fast, and we realized quickly we would all survive this only by first implementing a little bit of structure. If this was the beginning of weeks spent together, we needed to set some ground rules.
For the parents who choose to keep learning at home at the forefront, education companies are offering free subscriptions and can be found at amazingeducational
resources.com; some families are doing service based activities like sending notes to residents at nursing homes. I’ve even seen museums and galleries offering free virtual tours. I’ve dug out some read aloud books for the little ones, including our favorite, “Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon” for another way to break up the day.
Can we really complain when we have so many options and what we’re doing is about keeping people healthy? Our children range in age from 6 to 13, so finding something everyone is happy doing isn’t always easy (thank you, Lego) but eventually everyone realized that nothing would change the fate of us being stuck here, and it was time to find some common ground.
By the end of Sunday evening, we had all accepted and maybe even reveled in the news that we would be together a whole lot more over the coming weeks. My home was filled with typical wrestling and laughter as everyone settled in. My middle child wanted to learn how to make pancakes and my youngest dug some toys out of his closet we almost forgot we had. My oldest son, with the help of YouTube, has been making us all accessories from paracord.
Instead of taking this time as a disappointment or punishment, it brought more contentment to see it instead as an opportunity.
And although I felt like I had cleaned for the majority of the weekend, it didn’t look like that by Sunday night. Legos, cars, nerf bullets and knee hockey will be scattered among the chaos of a house that will be in constant motion until further notice.
But hey, at least now I can close the curtains.
— Emily Massingill is the editor of the Monroe Times. She can be reached at editor@themonroetimes.com or at 608-328-4202 ext. 22.
