Family Is Everything | RI Family Photographer
It’s been a little over two months since life as we know it changed dramatically. Everything was turned upside down. Work, school, how we shop, where we can go, who we can see, how we have fun…everything.
Parents everywhere have had everything go sideways. Suddenly they’re also teachers. They’re explaining to their kids over and over again why they can’t see their friends, why there is no soccer practice. They’re consoling their high school senior who had the end of their senior year taken, who had graduation and prom cancelled.
Nothing ever prepared us for any of this. Now, very very slowly, things are starting to inch towards normal. Or whatever it is that normal will be like now, because nothing will ever be the same as it was before.
But even as things start opening up again, and bit by bit there are more things we can do and more places we can go and our lives get a little less insular, I keep hearing little whispers from people:
“I wish it could stay like this a bit longer.”
For those of you over the homeschool, over the squabbling kids, over worrying about getting your work done from home when you’re trying to manage the everything else that comes with this…that statement probably sounds ridiculous. Insane, even.
But even amongst the chaos and uncertainty that has ensued with the coronavirus quarantine, there has been quiet, too. And peace. Overall slowing down. At the core of it all is far more family time. No running off to sports, to activities, rushing out to get dinner, movies, parties, or anything. Just families together enjoying each other, figuring out what activities they CAN enjoy together, having game nights, bike rides, hikes, home cooked family dinners, and more. At the end of the day, we’ve learned that family is everything. Being with them can actually be fun. And for those of us who have had to be away from family members and loved ones, we realize how important those people are.
And also we’ve learned how it’s ok, really ok, to slow way down. To take away all the activities and the distractions and everyday minutiae and just be present with those in our family. A lot of this is how life should be; we’ve just added so much more to it for whatever reason. So many of us are realizing that we want it to stay like this. We want to sit outside and listen to birds with our kids, or do another art project with them or find a hidden hiking spot or read another book with them.
We can still do all these things. Nothing says we can’t. Life slowly resuming as it was does not mean you can’t still listen to birds or swing in a hammock or be present with your family. You absolutely can, and you absolutely should. Take all the time you need.