I savour your messages in my inbox. And when I find a moment of quiet and solitude, I read every word. The 2 year anniversary of this wild ride we have been on came and went in our neck of the woods. Without much fanfare or introspection. It was acknowledged by a shift - optional mask wearing at all the schools in our school district. At our breakfast table, we talked about how our boys had worn masks for 2 years and now it was optional and how it felt for them. Excitement, uncertainty and an absolute "I am so keeping my mask on" from our eldest. But your post gave me pause, to take the time to go back. To Insta posts and FB posts and text exchanges with the mamas who got me through. Thank you for giving voice and space to look back and digest.
Oh that's so sweet you had a little processing with your kids. In our district they still have masks on inside, but they just lifted the outdoor mandate, and when I asked my 6-year-old about it he said he mostly is just keeping his on cuz it's kind of weird after 2 years not to. These kids are so amazing and I kind of wish they didn't have to be
What a beautiful and poignant reminder of those early days. My teenager was talking yesterday about how weird our memory of pain is. She was talking physical paid but I think it’s true of emotional pain too. We remember we felt pain but don’t remember exactly how it feels. (Hello, childbirth!!) You brought me back to the challenge and weird optimism of those early Covid days. I especially appreciated your admission of the rage that sets in when the story we’ve been trying to wring from events never materializes. And we have to dig for another layer of resilience we don’t really think exists. Anyway, thanks for another lovely post.
Coming in here to enthusiastically second the notion of taking your kid to a museum. Mine was really late to walk so taking her to playgrounds during winter was rough, so we spent a LOT of time at the various Smithsonians here in DC. Again, as you said, the experience you have with the kid is not necessarily the one you planned - like the time we went to the Air and Space museum and my kid spent the whole time playing over and over again with an air mail delivery set and just cold ignoring all the rockets around her - but it's always something memorable
I'll read whatever you write, whenever you write it. And now, I'm going to go sob into my coffee and maybe look back through text messages from two years ago.
Sarah, your narrative is riveting, including these emails with friends and photos! When you describe the times from 2020 as being dark and grim, I wonder if you think that they’re even worse now? The war in Ukraine that threatens to spread? The persistence of the far right to the degree that prompts prediction of another civil war here? Please give us some more comparisons/contrasts between then and now with photos of your adorable offspring! Thanks so much for devoting much thought and effort to composing this commentary because I did enjoy it hugely! DD
Thanks Dennis! I dont think I have any wisdom on whether things, in the big picture, are better or worse in the world. Bad bad stuff was going on then and is going on now....it's just my little self-centered world on trial here :)
I savour your messages in my inbox. And when I find a moment of quiet and solitude, I read every word. The 2 year anniversary of this wild ride we have been on came and went in our neck of the woods. Without much fanfare or introspection. It was acknowledged by a shift - optional mask wearing at all the schools in our school district. At our breakfast table, we talked about how our boys had worn masks for 2 years and now it was optional and how it felt for them. Excitement, uncertainty and an absolute "I am so keeping my mask on" from our eldest. But your post gave me pause, to take the time to go back. To Insta posts and FB posts and text exchanges with the mamas who got me through. Thank you for giving voice and space to look back and digest.
Oh that's so sweet you had a little processing with your kids. In our district they still have masks on inside, but they just lifted the outdoor mandate, and when I asked my 6-year-old about it he said he mostly is just keeping his on cuz it's kind of weird after 2 years not to. These kids are so amazing and I kind of wish they didn't have to be
Totally agree that they are amazing and that I kind wish they didn't have to be either.
What a beautiful and poignant reminder of those early days. My teenager was talking yesterday about how weird our memory of pain is. She was talking physical paid but I think it’s true of emotional pain too. We remember we felt pain but don’t remember exactly how it feels. (Hello, childbirth!!) You brought me back to the challenge and weird optimism of those early Covid days. I especially appreciated your admission of the rage that sets in when the story we’ve been trying to wring from events never materializes. And we have to dig for another layer of resilience we don’t really think exists. Anyway, thanks for another lovely post.
Coming in here to enthusiastically second the notion of taking your kid to a museum. Mine was really late to walk so taking her to playgrounds during winter was rough, so we spent a LOT of time at the various Smithsonians here in DC. Again, as you said, the experience you have with the kid is not necessarily the one you planned - like the time we went to the Air and Space museum and my kid spent the whole time playing over and over again with an air mail delivery set and just cold ignoring all the rockets around her - but it's always something memorable
I'll read whatever you write, whenever you write it. And now, I'm going to go sob into my coffee and maybe look back through text messages from two years ago.
Thank you Genie, and should you choose to do that, be prepared to lose a whole week of your life to nostalgia and depair!
Ha ha ha ha I mean, any more than I already live in a general state of nostalgia and despair as it is? I DO NOT THINK SO.
Really feeling the brief endlessness of life in these beloved texts from this strange distance
Sarah, your narrative is riveting, including these emails with friends and photos! When you describe the times from 2020 as being dark and grim, I wonder if you think that they’re even worse now? The war in Ukraine that threatens to spread? The persistence of the far right to the degree that prompts prediction of another civil war here? Please give us some more comparisons/contrasts between then and now with photos of your adorable offspring! Thanks so much for devoting much thought and effort to composing this commentary because I did enjoy it hugely! DD
Thanks Dennis! I dont think I have any wisdom on whether things, in the big picture, are better or worse in the world. Bad bad stuff was going on then and is going on now....it's just my little self-centered world on trial here :)
Just, yes. Yes.