Hobonichi Weeks – Week 11 of 2020

Happy Tuesday! I usually write these posts on Monday, but I have been knocked out by a cold. The weekend was an absolute mess that I’d hoped would clear up on Monday, but unfortunately not. I only managed to sleep last night by taking an extraordinary amount of robitussin. I’ve been taking as much cold medicine as I can and drinking as much tea with lemon and honey as I can stomach – this is no time to actually be sick! People give you the funniest looks when you cough in public. Almost murderous. It’s scary to be a human right now!

Last week was okay. My middle bug was home all week from his treatment center due to a fever. Then my oldest was out on Thursday and Friday with the same fever. They were both fine by the weekend, which was when my husband and I got the cold. And yesterday the baby finally got the fever. The good thing is that by the time it clears up in the three of us, then that will be everyone. We’ll be through with that cold. (I hope.)

The big news is that schools are closed, including the treatment center where my middle bug goes. I am so excited for the opportunity to “homeschool” (I use that term loosely, given that we’re following the school’s curriculum!), but feel woefully inadequate at managing my middle bug’s behaviors while keeping a fun learning environment for my oldest. My husband works for a milk manufacturing company and they are in overdrive. He normally gets home between 1am-2am, but he’s working until 4am lately. This is going to be a very difficult time for my family, I can’t stress that enough. So I’m going to do my best to throw all expectations out the window.

When it comes to remote learning, we’re going to do the best we can without making everyone miserable.

When it comes to meals and eating, I’m going to do the best I can to offer healthy snacks, but be okay when we fall back on frozen fish sticks and pizzas. Enjoy the tastiness and feel none of the guilt!

When it comes to comes to cleaning the house, I’ll probably only be able to do the bare minimum. There will be messes on the floors. There will be dirty dishes in the sink. We will be out of clean clothes (two of my children ARE currently out of clean clothes).

My reading will slow down. There will be mornings when I’m too tired to get up to journal or blog. All of these things are okay. This is an unbelievable and unprecedented time. I’m really wishing that I hadn’t read all of those post-apocalyptic books, but that’s okay too. I just want to get through this cold so that I can meet this challenge with all of the vim and vigor that I can muster. And if I can’t, then that has to be okay too.

On the other hand, I did manage to write a letter on Saturday morning! It felt good to pop an actual paper and pen letter into the mailbox, I just hope my germs don’t make the recipient sick. I think one positive outcome of this will be a rekindling of relationships in a more purposeful way. Tell me, what things are you looking forward to finally getting to enjoy?