Parenthood: Week 442 – Closer but not back to "normal"

The pandemic continues.

People are still dying at an alarming rate from COVID-19 in our country abroad. Vaccinations rates are unacceptably low because almost every part of daily life has changed because of the pandemic.

There was a moment last summer when unvaccinated people were told that they no longer needed to wear masks in public when it seemed like we were moving on, but that moment was fleeting. Thinking back on that moment, it almost seems like something I imagined.

We are very much learning to live with this pandemic. We didn't hesitate to go on our fall outing. Apple picking went fun, we went to a college football game for the first time since the pandemic hit, and we have tickets to a Halloween pumpkin event.

My wife and I are vaccinated, and while our children are not, these outdoor activities are low risk.

Most of the time, the children wear masks without too much drama. However, Ethan was having issues wearing a mask in the grocery store a couple of days ago. He wanted to suck his thumb, which he couldn't do with his mask. So I let him do it and kept the mask nearby. We were keeping our distance from other people. Maybe I should have pushed him harder at that moment to put his mask back on, but at the moment, it didn't seem worth it.

School is complicated.

Our children are all at the same school for the first time. There are so many wonderful things about this. One drop-off, one pick-up, at a school that proved they could handle the pandemic with safe in-person school last year while providing an excellent education is very special.

The challenge this year is how do we handle when our children get sick. Thankfully none of my children have tested positive for COVID-19, but they have had some minor illnesses that required that they stay home from school.

When one child is sick with certain symptoms, the other two children can't go to school until the ill child gets a straightforward COVID-19 test. And since COVID-19 tests can take up to forty-eight hours, we have days where all of my children are home while they are pretty much healthy. Diana has taken days off of work to make this work, and so have I.

This is stressful and challenging, but we are doing the best we can to make the best out of these "days off."

Even wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands, colds, and minor viruses is part of life. I feel this part of living with COVID-19 is that I will be taking more days off than in a typical year to stay with my children, who are waiting for COVID-19 tests.

So much about this school year is better than last year's, but there is still so much wrong, challenging, and stressful.

We have a life to live for and with our children, and we will make this work.