The New Normal

Never in a million years did any of us see this coming.  Literally a few days ago my daughter was applying to work at a tea house nearby and now it is closed.  I wonder what the owner will do now that she has no income and it had been packed when we went there. 

Barely a week ago I knew we were in a different world when they shut down the schools.  I had had no panicky feelings up until that moment.  I had seen the news about no toilet paper and long lines in the grocery store, but our little community was being normal and calm and so I wasn't worried, but once the school shut down happened, I got a bad feeling in my stomach.  I knew all the moms of the world were going to go nuts and I was right.  I went to the grocery store first thing the next day and it was crazy.  There was virtually nothing left on the shelves of necessities like toilet paper, frozen food, butter, eggs.  I walked around the store with my son and we were trying to stay calm, but inside I had a sick feeling that I had to keep praying about.  I knew in my heart we would be fine.  I knew eventually things would settle out.  I knew the store would restock, but there was this underyling anxiety trying to take away all calm.  I was one of the first in line in the check out.  I looked like I was hoarding, but I was just doing a regular shop for 10 people!!!  Then I looked behind me.  The short line had grown to all the way down to the end of the store.  Never had I seen that in my life.  I was so glad to get out of there, but without toilet paper!  Such a bizarre thing to hoard. 

Once the schools were shut down every minute after that there was a new announcement on the news or email or text....Soon after, my son's university shut down, then my husband's work at the college.  I couldn't believe that.  He'd be home?  In a way it seemed dreamy, but would they pay him?  My other two kids seemed untouched at their work, but only a couple of days later, the restaurant had to shut down.  I couldn't believe that either.  I immediately felt badly for the owners and wondered how they would survive.  Then my daughter got the email a few days later....no more piano lessons.....only virtual if parents wanted to try that.  She was instantly worried as she has bills to pay.

It felt like we were living in a bad movie.  I grew up with films like "A Thief in the Night" and "Distant Thunder".  They were all about the end times and how scary they were.  I always prayed as a child to make sure I was a Christian after those films!  But now, it felt like I was in one of those films.

In that first week where everyone was home, I knew the rest of the world was perhaps panicking, and I did that first day in the grocery store, but after that, a strange calm, dare I say excitement, settled over me.  I had everyone home, under our roof, and they couldn't leave!  Except for my one son at MarineLand.  He's considered an essential service so he has actually gotten more hours as a result.  We figure we'll use his income if my husband loses his!  As everyone was around we had so many great times!  We were getting so much done!  We finished painting a bunk bed, setting up the girls' new room, organizing clothes.  Outside we were using the strong boys' muscles to clear up the scrap metal, the garbage, everything that had been accumulating over the winter and taking it all away and making money at the same time.  We replaced a broken fridge that decided to die this past week.  We started patching the trim on our windows getting them ready to be painted.....I had NO idea how under the pile we had become.  I had no idea how much we needed to be quarantined.  I could never have asked my kids to do this or asked the college to give me my husband back that they had stolen for nearly 4 years.  I know I'm not supposed to say this, but I LOVE BEING QUARANTINED!!!!!!  Don't get me wrong.  I hate the virus and I feel so sad for how this is affecting people's lives around the world, so I'm not happy about that.  I'm simply happy for how my world has been shut down. 

Last week we caved and let the kids do a hike or two with friends, but not this week.  My older kids thought they were going crazy last week, this week they're really going crazy and I love that, too.  They are being forced to do everything at home, with us, with one another, for us, for one another.  It is definitely revealing how they feel this constant need to do things, be somewhere, buy something, eat out somewhere.  All that has stopped.  May it never go back to that other way of living again.  Can we just learn to be content at home?  Satan loved it when we were all going somewhere all the time, yet going nowhere, doing some things together, yet nothing together.  And we were pretty good at keeping our family together at least a little, but it shows how separate our family was slowing becoming.

Family worship is hard enough in a regular world.  Our family worship was almost always missing someone due to work.  We are now almost always together, except the one who still is at work, but he's not gone everyday, so to have all 10 of us together is powerful.  We are trying to use this time as much as we can knowing it will not be like this forever.  Again, for all the people who see this time as awful, I'm so sorry to say I'm loving this time so much.  I'm not asking God to extend the quarantine, but I will NOT fight it if it goes on.

It has showed how much we were behind in everything.  If the quarantine hadn't happened, we would have survived, but we would have never been able to get on top of anything....ever.  We're still not on top of anything, but we are slowly getting to the surface.  Things I've ALWAYS wanted to get to are actually being done or at least discussed.  Yes, there are times where things are squirrely, but even for that I'm grateful. 

Sometimes I wonder if people will ever see how crazy everyone's life had become.  Do we really have to go out all the time?  Do we really need to be involved in every single activity that we were before?  Is it best to do everything we were doing?  Knowing the rest of the world is in lockdown helps my kids, but I would have loved to do a lockdown even if the virus hadn't happened!  If this ever stops, I might make a suggestion we have a 3 week shutdown once a year!  My kids will revolt, but having this time feels like this is a bit of restart, a reboot.  If our family needed this, surely we're not the only ones. 

So here we are....the big news is that now we have toilet paper!  We have groceries.  My husband is still working.  The college is actually helping out in the war effort, so his work is now becoming very important, so I'm grateful for that.  I've tried to reach out to a few neighbours.  I am sensing that we can be bolder with the non-Christians around us during this crazy time.  We are continuing to use this time to get on top of the crazy life that we lead.  We'll be busy in the vines soon.  We ARE NOT BORED, that is for sure.  I know how grateful we should be to live on a property.  I cannot imagine how hard it would be to live in an apartment.  I wish we could rent out our property for other families to play!

Bottom line - I am not fighting this.  I'm quite enjoying it, at least on a personal level.  Of course, we are praying for an end to the death and dying.   One day the quarantine will be over.  I will probably be a little sad about that!  It's one day at a time for now.