March 21, 2020
What now? I keep reminding myself to take a few deep breaths as I cycle through all my calming techniques: Deepok Chopra Center meditations, Course in Miracles (I’m on Day 35, perfect timing!), 15 minute miracle, you name it.
My daughters are seemingly unperturbed as we eat pasta for dinner night after night and their mom exhibits uncharacteristically lax device monitoring (i.e. the kids have been on their devices practically all day, every day). My parenting of my eleven-year-old triplets is relegated to “low speed” as I attempt to navigate my own fears and feelings. We go for walks each day (ok, if I’m honest it’s one walk per day). Our boxed puzzles and games are stacked in a pile, ready for me to insist we engage in some, any, non-device activity.
I occupy my hours alternately checking news on Twitter and my stock account, neither of which do anything to relieve my stress level. I reach out to friends in other cities to virtually connect, and even that is somehow stressful too (too many platforms: Messenger, WhatsApp, text). The need to limit social interactions does have some upside as I allow myself to break from routine, stay in my bathrobe until later hours, take fewer actions, more coffee breaks. Home schooling, something I never desired or remotely anticipated, seems to be in my near future, as the school district sends updates to make sure families are internet-ready. Meanwhile we forage in our local markets for basics like toilet paper, milk and bread, noting their next planned incoming delivery dates when we find the shelves empty once again.
This is our new normal. We do our best to keep our expenses down, not knowing how long we need to make our monies last. We watch the political yammerings on Twitter and the news channels like a tennis match, and do our best to comfort ourselves with healthy things like walks and fresh air, rather than coffee and cocktails. We speak soothing words to our children as they adjust to sheltering-in-place, reassuring them that so long as we have our health and each other, we can manage this new lifestyle. And last but not least of all, we turn our faith and prayers to our higher powers, and to G-d, and Jesus and the angels above, breathing in hope that the coming days will provide the help and relief we need.
……………..
Carol Jones writes both to preserve her sanity as well as to share humor and relatable parenting and family life experiences with her growing audience. Born and raised in Long Island, NY, Carol has spent her adult life in Southern California, and has been raising her now eleven-year-old triplet girls in Pasadena, California. In order to most easily balance family and work commitments, Carol works and writes from her home. Balancing Three is based upon Carol’s experiences as a working, married mother of triplets. http://www.balancingthree.com
This is our new normal. We do our best to keep our expenses down, not knowing how long we need to make our monies last. We watch the political yammerings on Twitter and the news channels like a tennis match, and do our best to comfort ourselves with healthy things like walks and fresh air, rather than coffee and cocktails. We speak soothing words to our children as they adjust to sheltering-in-place, reassuring them that so long as we have our health and each other, we can manage this new lifestyle. And last but not least of all, we turn our faith and prayers to our higher powers, and to G-d, and Jesus and the angels above, breathing in hope that the coming days will provide the help and relief we need.