Me Time

Me Time: Swoon 46

Last week my husband showed up at dinner dressed in a suit and tie. No reason, he just wanted to make his ladies laugh. On Saturday we had a dress as a rainbow dinner… no reason, we just needed to do something silly. I see social media videos with families dressing in tutus and goofing around, of Irish families teaching their grumpy dad to TikTok (brilliant), screen captures of high school buddies having a their own Brady Bunch opening credit like gathering, pictures of homemade bread and cakes worthy of food channel shows, cross-fit lists crossed off, and hikes that go strait up mountains (both ways). It is so lovely. People are so positive about this insanity!

Last night, dinner was prepared, table was set, computers were ready for a Zoom dinner with my brother’s family… and then some technology difficulties. These difficulties were step one towards a nasty argument between my housemates. It was ridiculous. The final step was that I left the house and boycotted dinner. It felt fabulous.

Social media posts illustrate the quarantine timeline. Week 1 was…”I can not believe this is happening, hunker down and follow rules, set up enough food and supplies, we need to keep everyone happy… we can do this.” Week 2 was…”how do we replenish food, how do I teach 4th grade math while on a conference call, how do we create enough spaces to work, school, and live in one house, we need to keep everyone happy… how are we ever going to do this” Week 3 was…”I am not a teacher, they can fail 3rd grade for all I care, I am sick of cooking, my husband conference calls and paces…all day long, how do I get more wine delivered, we received dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets instead of organic chicken breasts, why can I no longer sleep”… I am pretty sure I can no longer do this.

As we head into week four, all I can say is I am done keeping my loved ones alive for a few days. We are fully stocked. You take care of you and I will take care of me. I started Couch to 5K (and hopefully will not quit tomorrow). I am going to attempt to do a crazy thing… read. I not going to apologize for being human and finding this whole situation very annoying. I will cook when I want to cook and show up to dinner wearing a fancy hat if it so pleases me. Week four will be my week of renewal…filling my soul with goodness… allowing me to finish my first pandemic really strong. Swoon.