The New Normal

It's supposed to be the time of year when we pack our bags of snacks and suncreen heading out to the pool. All of the city pools and the HOA pools around us are closed. It's officially Summer around here. We can go to the lake, but you can't do that every day. Life is flipped in this weird way, and we're trying to figure it all out. Nick is still out of a job. We apply every day. He networks. Places are on hiring freezes. One makes more on unemployment than many jobs, yet that cannot last forever. I do my freelance writing and virtual assistant work. I could go back to work in an office or remotely as well. This Coronavirus and all of 2020 are like living in a strange dream.

This year is sort of like the end of a fireworks show. Hear me out. So God just started going "boom boom boom." Corona boom. Murder hornets boom boom boom. Senseless killings boom boom. Release the cicadas booooom boom. Riots and looting boom boom boom boom. I don't want to dive into anything deep regarding these riots and protests. In fact, it's overshadowing the Covid-19 news so now I sometimes forget about the pandemic. I'll simply say on a public forum my heart hurts. This isn't new in the world though. Equality has been thrown off for centuries. I want to raise my boys to love everyone. Walker knows there are different colors of hair and skin and eyes, but he doesn't care. Maybe we should all see through the eyes of children.

I don't know if the Coronavirus numbers are really changing or we're all just so tired of it that we've given up. I know Nick and I still wear our masks. We don't go to big stores. When we went to Orange Beach with the family it was like a breath of fresh air. We weren't immersed in the news the entire time. We still don't see a million people, but we are no longer afraid to see close friends. Maybe we're in the wrong. I honestly don't know anymore. I know Walker misses his school friends. I know Carter is missing out on a lot of social growth by not being able to attend the church nursery or take Walker to school drop off. Thank God for friends that play with him and treat him like a kid instead of a baby. And, I don't know how these numbers will grow or decrease to affect their joint birthday celebration in August or kindergarten or the 2's class. So we just sit back and wait. That's the worst. The not knowing the future. I'm a planner. In fact, we don't know which company will hire Nick. We don't know what date that is. We are in this floating realm. I don't like to float.

So we remain in church through Zoom Bible studies and online streams. We peck away at job applications. I write articles. The boys play with little friends. We search for a little pool we can place in the yard so they don't melt. We head to the lake with our floaties and sunblock. I don't know if the Rapture is coming or God wants us all to chill out instead of going full speed or what the heck He's doing up there. I'm just holding on for this ride.