Page 30 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
and keeping the children as safe as possible. Jude went back to school and stayed healthy, made new friends and learned new things.
We approached the holidays with
an abundance of caution, choosing
to keep Jude home for much of the
season. While this brought a bit
more chaos to our lives, I found
myself oddly at peace with the ever-
changing landscape of pandemic
life. We typically host Thanksgiving,
and I love entertaining. But I felt a
profound calmness at the thought
of watching the Philadelphia
Thanksgiving Parade on TV, not
cooking for days on end and
spending the day at home with
my little family. Maybe we’d order
Chinese food? Maybe we’d stay in
our pajamas all day? Who cares!
Turns out, my mom wasn’t so willing to let Thanksgiving traditions go by the wayside, and we had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner over Zoom. But I noticed a distinct shift in myself as I loosened my grip on expectations, and accepted each day as it came.
As I am sure is true for all of us, 2020 was a year that tested, challenged and pushed me to the edge of sanity. But it was also a time of intimacy, presence and gratitude. Life would have been so different if I were separated from my family, caring for elderly parents or standing by helplessly while a relative suffered the virus in isolation. The fact that we got so lucky—our health, family and finances still intact—has taught me to take nothing for granted. 2020 forced me to slow down and appreciate the beauty of every day.
Pre-pandemic life was life at full throttle. Everything was go-go-go. But lockdown life gave us the opportunity to just BE. Not going to restaurants meant cooking meals as a family. With no museums to visit, we discovered some beautiful trails right in our neighborhood that had previously gone unnoticed. Not running from gymnastics to music class meant time to up our arts and crafts game. Less commitments on our calendar meant less stress, less chaos and more of JUST US.
Being with Jude so intimately was like watching him grow up before my very eyes—
First Day of School
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