During these challenging times, I have found it most rewarding to focus on the beautiful, if somewhat mundane, bits of everyday life. The good, the bad and the ugly. Without the bad and the ugly, there can be no good. I was lucky enough to have these beautiful people within my “bubble”, so when our area was not on a full lockdown I could document this time for them. It is a time, admittedly, that while some of us may want to forget, it is my hope that we won’t.

To get through the challenges of “Zoom school”, with working parents right on the other wall, is to be able to open our eyes to all that our kids need (even if, at times, we want to pull our hair out, have a glass of wine, and go to bed at 6 pm). I count myself as one of the lucky ones because my kids are too young to be online for school. However, our challenges have come in other forms. We don’t have much family close by so our 3.5 year-old relishes his FaceTime calls with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Our 1 year-old, on the other hand, continues to believe the phone is a chew toy and hopefully won’t be too scared of the real world once things return to a new normal and we can take her out of the house more often. We can’t wait for her to experience airplanes and show her all the people, places and things we enjoyed sharing with our firstborn. All in due time.

I am, by nature, an introvert, so this whole thing was A-okay with me for quite a while. Like the rest of us, though, I am quite ready to be done with it now. Once it is over and the family Zoom calls, birthday drive-by parades, and mask wearing is behind us, I do foresee myself looking back and missing some of those quieter days. There is something freeing about quite literally having nowhere to go and no one to see. However, that longing will not be able to replace the joy and happiness that will be being able to hug our loved ones again.

Please don’t forget this time was hard. But, if nothing else, this time also taught us patience, appreciation for the small things, and that civilization is anything but invincible. As we move forward, let us not forget that. Let us be kind to one another, to all living things, and to our planet.

You can find more of this session on Instagram.

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