Oh boy, so much happens when you take a six month blogging hiatus to focus on your family.
I feel like major life obstacles appear and make it impossible to further document the day to day happenings, so maybe it's more realistic to blog twice a month or something.
We left off in November. The Elmers came to Utah for Thanksgiving, and then we went to them in Arizona for Christmas. We came home on New Year's Eve, and a few weeks later Sam headed to Hawaii for Max's wedding. A major blizzard hit the night before he flew in, and it was the worst to try to drive in. So I took a snow day to just appease my anxiety about driving in the yuck that was my reality.
Then came COVID-19.
It hit a point in the news where I realized that this ordeal would play a significant role in history. There have been comparisons to Spanish Influenza, and I will admit that I don't really know much about that.
What we quickly learned as March began, is that this virus is a super nasty respiratory virus. As it inched closer and closer from China to Utah, people began to discuss it more and more.
Then (and this is the worst part of the last six months), Alexa lost her baby. A mere seven weeks prior to her due date, my precious unborn niece's heart stopped beating. We were totally and completely devastated. I made the decision to fly to Phoenix for the day to attend the funeral, because Alexa and I are so close, I couldn't imagine not being there for her during this particular life event.
Baby Emmy was delivered on a Tuesday morning, and her graveside service was scheduled for Saturday. On Friday, my school district went on a soft dismissal to further prevent exposure risk for COVID-19. I can't tell you how surreal it was to hear that announcement, and then be on a plane less than 12 hours later. Many voiced a concern for me to fly, but it was so very important that I be there.
March was such an emotional month for our family, and to top it off with soft dismissal and the new directive to work from home, life got turned upside down. Plus an earthquake, but more on that later.
Here we are mid-April, and I'm still reluctant to accept my new normal.
My anger at the world piques in small but random moments. Frustrations of not getting any kind of emotional break keep resurfacing. I've been reassured repeatedly that what I feel is normal, and I'm certainly not the only one harboring these feelings.
My trip to Boston got cancelled, as did the family reunion, and now life is essentially on hold. I'm hoping that by June things will relax more so we can at least squeeze in a summer getaway to Arizona. If not, I guess our Thanksgiving trip will be extended and double as a legit vacation. More to the point, I really want to head off to DC in October for little Max's birthday.
Despite all the emotional struggles, there are little things about this time that I am trying to appreciate.
Working from home means no commute time. That means more time with my boys, but less time for myself. I had no idea that my 20 minute drive each way to and from work counted as time to myself.
Since we are both working from home, it means lunches together more frequently.
It means no pressure to always be go-go-go on the weekends, that C is just as happy playing in the backyard as he is when we have our outings.
Back to the earthquake.
Three days into soft dismissal, we had a 5.7 earthquake where Magna was the epicenter.
I had just gotten to work, and it had already been a rough morning.
Work drama and general uncertainty about the world had me totally and completely unmotivated to get out of bed. Seriously though, I dragged my feet all morning. I was depressed and anxious, very unlike me.
Then it hit.
I was chatting with my sweet coworker, a much older grandmother when the noise began, I thought for a second that it was just a noisy truck in the parking lot. I turned to look back at her, and stuff started falling off of cabinets right above her head. The last image I saw before diving under my desk was her running.
What a year so far.
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