These last few weeks of quarantine have held some extreme highs and lows for Luke and I. Most notably, I became very sick in week 2. Looking back, it was a surreal experience. Two weeks earlier, with Covid-like symptoms (that turned out to be the flu), I walked into the doctor’s office and received care, as I always had. Now, I couldn’t go to the doctor and I had to navigate new ways of getting care, while feeling terrible.

I did two virtual doctor’s appointments, one drive thru for testing and one drive up visit. I feel like I received very good care throughout the entire experience. The only thing that I wasn’t able to have done was an x-ray to confirm pneumonia and make sure I didn’t have fluid build-up. This would have required a trip to the ER and my doctors wanted this to be a last resort option. So, I was treated for pneumonia during a virtual visit and then it was confirmed by a doctor in my drive-up visit 5 days later.

I found that being sick during a quarantine was honestly, a little extra scary. Did you know that 2.5 million people died from pneumonia in 2017? While lying around feverish in my bed for over a week, these frightening stats plus the state of the world, got into my head and were dang scary.

The experience has helped me find perspective during this unique time we are in, especially as a parent. It is a lot to be around 4 small humans all day. But I had moments when I was sick where I worried that I would never have fun with them again. I was composing goodbye letters to each of my most precious people in my head. It was horrible. I was feverish and isolated and crying like I might never get to go on a bike ride (plus 1,000’s of other things) with my babies again.

This has kept me slow and present. It has enabled me to find joy in making dinner for them, to sit with them for longer when reading a book, to hold onto each hug a little longer. It’s allowed me to worry less about the mountain of laundry and piles of dishes, the dirty toilet and sand in the bathtub. And forget about homeschooling, the one of the biggest stressors for parents right now, that was put on the back burner.

I am grateful for good health that allows me to care for all kinds of things like writing and organizing my house and pedicures but when it all comes down to it, the people are IT.

We went to the beach a few days after I started feeling better and ya’ll, I cried real tears feeling the sun on my skin and watching my kids splash in the water. Luke asked me if I applied sunscreen and I was like, heck no, I want to get sunburned because I can. Because that feels like living.

But then I remembered that sun and antibiotics don’t mix.

I started writing this with the intention of sharing my two sense about how you spend your quarantine time. Here it is, get your paper and pencil ready.

Spend it however you want and are able.

Get dressed everyday or don’t. Read tons of books or don’t. Finish all your house projects or don’t. Try out new recipes or throw a pizza in the oven and call it a day. Become homeschool extraordinare or do a worksheet and move on. Spend the day in the ways that make you and your babies the happiest. There is no blueprint for success here. Listen to your intuition about what you and your family need and do the best you can to make that happen.

All the love and grace to you, my friends.