We Survived

We survived another week in isolation and the first week of virtual schooling. Both feats are amazing considered the amount of work it takes to cajole kids to get to their online classes timely. Teenagers are special – truly. Not since the toddler stages have I found parenting more vexing. Fortunately, I no longer have to change their diapers only deal with their tantrums and attitude.

I know this is stressful for them as it is for all of us, but come on man! Doing the dishes for ten minutes isn’t going to cut into your 24/7 free time to play video games or shoot pucks in the garage. Honestly, it’s not asking a lot just for them to help around the house. Additionally, the course work required of each of the boys, thus far, has been reasonable. Both have a virtual session a day, which is great because it gives them a chance to reconnect with their peers and a sense of normalcy. Bottom line they have plenty of time to help mom and dad.

The past couple of weeks have been a constant test of patience and today I felt like I was about to fail the test. Much of my morning was spent motivating, aka arguing with, Goalielocks to start and finish his homework before the 3:00 pm deadline. After asking him for the 900th time to bring his laptop downstairs to complete his work, I was ready to lose my mind.

And then it happened. Anakin, Maya and I came back in from a brief walk around the block. As I was bending down to switch the leach from Maya to Athena, Goalielocks released Anakin form his leash. Unfortunately, Anakin’ s leash was retractable and retracted from ten feet away directly into my shin splints. Oh joy! I totally lost my mind. I took his phone, grabbed my grocery bag to head to Publix.

Now to be clear, we desperately needed milk and some other essentials. In fact, I’m still looking for toilet paper. If you’ve ever been to my Publix during snowbird season, you would know it’s not for the faint of heart on a normal day. During a pandemic or pre-hurricane, it’s usually super crazy. Nonetheless, it would bring me so much needed peace and serenity. Yep, that’s something I ever expected to write. I picked up some milk, fresh veggies, so gluten free baking mixes and Cadbury eggs.

I came home to Goalielocks diligently working on his coursework while watching Life of Brian on Netflix. If ever there was a perfect movie for today, that was it. Moreover, Always Look On the Bright Side of Life is exactly the song I needed to hear today. Fortunately, Monty Python was the perfect anecdote to my foul mood. Fortunately, the rest of my afternoon went significantly smoother than the morning and I was actually productive!

Now that we have one week of school of under the belts, I feel better about the boys being successful learning at home. Clearly, it’s going to take an enormous amount of patience and grace. Not only from me, but from my boys as well. Together we’ll make it though this stronger and more resilient than ever. Also, will probably be a lot more round after the quarantine fifteen. Thank you Cadbury, coffee cake, brownies and stress eating for that! Imagine by the end of this, the greatest stress in your life will be on your yoga pants.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading To the Lighthouse by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched BBC’s production of The Moonstone episode 1 and 2

*Watched Life of Brian

*Completed BBG Full Body Workout week 6

*Ran virtual school for my two teenage boys

*Grocery run to Publix for essentials since all delivery services are booked 

*Baked a gluten free coffee cake

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on a walk 

*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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