Posted on

The kids are home through August.

I got a text yesterday afternoon at 2:06 pm in our family group chat:

Schools closed rest of year.

It knocked the breath out of me. We had guessed this would happen, but the governor announcing it 5 minutes into his briefing made it real. Even though abstractly we figured the kids wouldn’t be going back to school, once it was official, I really thought about what this would mean.

Five more months. Five more months of all of us at home. That’s assuming schools start back up in August as normal. Given that only two countries so far have actually seen their COVID-19 curves begin to flatten after a sharp rise (China and S. Korea), with that easing beginning after 8-10 weeks of lockdown, and given that other countries who halted it quickly and are now opening things back up are seeing surges in cases again, let’s just say we’ll see about August.

A friend recommended the book The Obstacle is the Way for guidance on coping. From what I understand, the gist of the book is that what matters most is how we choose to react to adversity: to focus on the things we can control rather than freaking out or lamenting the things we cannot. I’m going to read a few pages to ground myself before starting my workday.

Published by

Andrea Badgley

Reader, writer, gardener. Andrea grew up on the coast of Georgia and now lives with her husband and two children in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia.

Categories life5 Comments

5 thoughts on “The kids are home through August.”

  1. They haven’t done that here yet but I can see why reopening things would cause another spike in COVID-19 illness. I’m sorry it’s come as a shock; I cannot say I am surprised. I just really hope this all cools down by the Summer. I mean no swimming or splash pads or parks? That’s a rough existence for anyone.

    While it’s great that families are spending more together, it isn’t easy to be spending ALL of your time together. 🤗 You can do this.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Let us know what you learn from the book. In my experience, I can choose all I want to react a certain way. My actual reaction is not always what I chose. Perhaps your book holds the secret.

    Like

  3. I’m working very hard to not be so reactive to all the changes…it’s tough!! Good luck with having the kids off school for so long 😦 You got this!!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Looking up that book RIGHT NOW! Thanks Andrea. This isn’t going to be easy. But I am drawing back on when we lived in 29m2 for 15 months… we were allowed out of course, but in fact being in that small space as a family made everyone more tolerant, and I really miss that. I hope these times teach us all better tolerance, love and patience. Wishing you well from France x

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Wishing you well from Italy. It’s really hard but you can do this. My daughter has a two year old and a four year old under lockdown in a flat without a balcony. They play in the garage, riding scooters and rolling down the entrance road. And mum is a 24 seven playmate, cheerleader, comforter and fight separator! You can do this!

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.