Scenes From Quarantine

We’ve been home for six weeks. I heard someone say "this is the closest we'll ever get to freezing time", and it's true. There is nowhere to be, no morning scramble to get out the door in time, no days full of errands or marked by carpool times. We're together, all day. The days can certainly be long, and I do miss our regular routines, seeing people, going places, but spending my days watching these boys and their endless imaginations has been an unexpected gift in the middle of this pandemic.

"Go where the light is" seems to be our motto these days, and we're spending the bulk of our days outside. Hours and hours of fresh air, imagination, and sunshine are the recipe for our best days. We may not be able to "go" anywhere, but they've created construction sites, played in the Sydney Opera House, turned our swingset into the Paw Patrol Lookout and rafted on the wild river with Davy Crockett.

They've had quieter moments of contemplation, lost in their imaginations, escaping the panicked world frozen in place by COVID-19 as they create their own worlds. They are missing out on school, and they do miss it, their teachers and friends and classroom routines that are now seen through a screen, but they are also nurturing their creativity, resilience, and relationships with each other during this time.

I wonder what they'll remember, years from now, when they look back on these days? Will they remember the way the world froze, everything cancelled, parents glued to the news, endless discussions of when things will return to "normal"? Or will they remember the cozy cocoon of imagination, days of frozen time, no schedules and backyard adventures?

This post was written as part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to read the next post in this series "Go Where the Light Is".

Graphic by Phoenix Feathers Calligraphy for Exhale