Blogging In The Age Of Corona

It's Monday and in the old days, aka before the you know what, Mondays on my blog meant a weekend recap. I think I'm gonna need someone to define weekend, because isn't every day the weekend now? This particular Monday is also a holiday, but there's no parade, no backyard barbecue where everybody brings a dish, no music played a little too loud or team cornhole happening on the driveway.

Weekends used to mean a dock full of our best pals, dinner at the neighbor's house, a boat ride to the local hangout where we were sure to meet up with friends and likely make a few new ones along the way. Now it's me and the hubs, porch sitting, dog walking, coffee drinking, talking about all manner of everything under the sun but quite often circling back around to how strange everything feels and what to do about that.

How does one blog in the age of Corona? How do you write about static?

My blog has always been what I affectionately describe as a 'slice of life'. That's my niche. My wheelhouse. The extraordinary ordinary of everyday life. Observations about the people I live with and those who cross my path. My role as mother-daughter-wife-sister-friend. The times we're living in, the wider world, and my place in it.

Right now it feels like we all have tunnel vision and are staring down this one big thing that we can't seem to get through or go around or climb over, and how do you keep writing about that? Do I want to keep writing about that? I can't not write about that, can I?

I don't know that I'll need this blog to help me remember this weird season, but ten years of blogging has taught me that reading something written in real time weeks, months, or even years later brings perspective and validity to the memory.

So here's what I've observed lately...

For all our pining about how we don't like change, turns out we kinda do. We may fear it a little and wobble some before finding our new footing, but change propels us in new directions and that's a good thing. Or at least a different thing and we want different. All of this stay at home all day every day business has shown us we don't want same old same old. We don't want every day to look like the one before.

Yes we wanted a less busy calendar, but not a blank one. Yes we wanted a break from all the going and doing, but it's not a break if it lasts forever. Yes we wanted time to step back from the crazy and re-evaluate priorities, figure out what's truly important, but then we need to step back in and act on what we've learned. And yes we might love to make dinner for our family but not absolutely positively every single night, plus every breakfast, lunch and snack too, am I right?

Yes I'm right.

It's hard right now to see how we ever get back to where we once were in terms of activity, interaction, and community but I suppose like most things it will be a process. One day I'll read back on this blog post and remember a long season of being at home.

I'll remember slow starts to the morning.

Books read on the porch without an ounce of guilt.

So much meal planning and intentional shopping.

Using what's in the frig.

Substituting this for that because that was nowhere to be found.

All the cooking. Have mercy there was a lot of cooking.

Church on the computer.

Zoom calls with family and friends.

Missing people being close enough to touch.

Completing projects we finally found time for.

Disappointment.

Kindness.

Wearing a mask.

Not going anywhere and not really minding too much except when we did.

Blogging in the age of Corona is not so different than blogging in the time before. Like all the seasons I've written my way through I know this one too will look a bit different when viewed through the lens of hindsight.

Looking forward to getting there.
I think?

A part of me wonders if it's possible not to go all the way back to where we were? To just go some of the way back?  To retain some of the low key-quiet-just us sitting on the porch because we feel like it- way of living?

Guess we'll find out.

Numbering The Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! How is everyone? Out and about or napping on the couch more often than you should? I'm asking for a friend. 

If you've answered this week's questions add your link to the end of my post, then go say howdy to your neighbor. Everybody's got time, right? Here we go-

1. In a single sentence tell us something about your 40's. If you haven't reached that milestone yet tell us something (in a single sentence) about whatever decade you're in now.

If you read my blog you know I wrote an entire post on this topic yesterday. You can read it here. A single sentence is tough because that's ten years of living, but let's go with this quote attributed to Danny Kaye-

"Life is a great big canvas. Throw all the paint on it you can." 

2. Life begins at forty. Agree or disagree? Tell us why. And if not at forty, when?

I think the spirit of this sentiment is somewhat true. I also think life is what you make it at any age, so there's that. For me 40 was probably the age where I felt like I knew myself, gave myself grace when grace was needed, had figured out what real friendship looks like, and felt less need to control the universe. At 40 I realized I wasn't young anymore, but I wasn't old either and I embraced that. 

Now in my fifties I pitched a minor rebellion but in my 40's all was well. 

3. Share a favorite book, song, or quote with a number featured in it somewhere.

Let's go with books today. I'm sharing several that I loved because I'm not good at just one-

The Million Dollar Boy by Monica Wood
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

4. A picture's worth a thousand words, a stitch in time saves nine, back to square one, catch-22, on cloud nine, my two cents...pick a number phrase and tell us how it applies to your life currently.

Catch 22 feels like it fits. There are a couple of definitions, but I think 'a situation presenting two equally undesirable solutions' is the thesis of our current social distancing predicament. 

Stay away and potentially stay well while the economy crashes.
Revive the economy with business as usual and face a potential health care crisis. 

Ugh. I feel for the people in charge trying to make decisions in this confusing and uncertain time we find ourselves navigating. 

5. Last time you drove more than 40 miles from home? More than 400 miles from home? Where were you going? Was it before or after this current season of social distancing?

I honestly don't think I've been more than 40 miles from home since the stay home way of living began, which for us was April 7th. We'd been at it a week or two prior, and since then I've only been to a couple of local grocery stores and the plant nursery, all of which are less than 40 miles from here. 

Hubs and I did drive to Florida to visit friends in early March before this whole thing started and that was definitely more than 400 miles. We enjoy road trips, and I think that's the wave of the future at least for the short term. Not sure when we'll be boarding an airplane again to jet off somewhere fun. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Daughter1 gave the hubs a hammock for Christmas and now that it's hammock weather we ordered a stand so we could get it set up. Y'all. It is ginormous. This stand rivals Noah's Ark in size. I look like the princess and the pea in this picture. 

It is so incredibly comfy and now we just need to figure out where to put it. Currently it's sitting on the lower driveway which has a great view of the lake, but I picture myself tipping out onto the concrete so we'll likely need to relocate. Maybe the hillside once we level out a space in the mulch there. 

And yes I know it's technically hubs hammock but there's plenty of room for two. 

Same as the Ark. 

The Roaring 40's

If you're looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions you'll find them in the post before this one. 

I know technically that term 'roaring' is linked with the 20's, but I'm talking age today not world culture, so The Roaring 40's it is. My roaring 40's.

A while back (two years if you're counting) I asked a question in my weekly Hodgepodge wanting people to describe their 20's in a single sentence. I enjoyed reading their answers so much so that I eventually wrote an entire post reflecting on my 20's some three decades out (you'll find it here), and later two posts about my 30's (here and here). My plan was to hit all the decades, but you know what they say about plans.

Since I've officially entered the year of a 'big birthday' I wanted to come back to the decades I missed and revisit them in the form of a blog post or two.  Today that means The Roaring 40's. Like your 20s only better because there's less striving and more seizing the day.

I've written bits and pieces about this decade over the course of my blog's life, but these reflection posts are more about life lessons learned, and how a particular season looks in the rear view mirror.

My 40's started with hubs planning a fun birthday surprise, a weekend away in a cute little B & B on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He even managed to sneak my mom into town to stay with our girls which meant so much to me. I wrote about it in great detail in a post linked here so I'm not going to say more about that now.

What I will say is people freak out a little bit when this birthday approaches, but when my 40th rolled around I felt great. Vibrant, relevant, mentally sharp, and looking towards the future with anticipation and delight. I was physically healthy, and also really happy in marriage, motherhood, and the wider world as I knew it. Of all the decades this one holds a tender place in my heart.

My girls were in grades 5 and 7 when I entered my 40's and were university students when the decade drew to a close. In between there was a whole lotta life lived. A lot a lot. On a grand global scale we had 9-11, war in the desert, the housing crisis, and economic collapse. On a personal level there were job changes, an overseas move, middle school-high school-college for the kids, and so many new people, places, and experiences shared it would be impossible to list them all here.

What I see when I look back at any decade is how God orchestrated the events of one season to make me ready for the next and this one was no exception. I started my 40's living in a sweet little town beside the bay, a place we all loved and where my family of four had become comfortably comfortable. Maybe even a teensy bit complacent? I don't mean complacent in the sense we weren't busy working-going-doing, but more life is good and let's not look for ways to rock the boat k?

Except what if the boat is meant to be rocked now and then?
What if it's better, stronger and more sea-worthy if it's rocked from time to time?

There's nothing wrong with living a comfortable life, but I know me and sometimes when I get too comfortable with something I hold on with a tightly clenched fist. Two tighly clenched fists. And God is always teaching me to cling tightly to just one thing-Him. I finally figured that out in my 40's, but it took being catapulted from the ordinary every day familiar into something new and different before it stuck.

I've written probably more than anyone wants to read about moving overseas as a 43 year old grown woman who had been perfectly fine thank you very much, right where she was, only to discover she still had some growing to do and a new home and country were just the place to do it. We traded life in America for life across the pond at what I can see now was absolutely perfect timing, although for young teenagers it maybe didn't feel like it.

My 40-something self had a heap of anxiety percolating on the inside too, but I went with what has worked for moms since the dawn of time. I slapped a smile on my face and repeated my oft repeated mantra -every little thing is gonna be alright.

And it was.

One of the miracles of parenting is that we moms and dads learn a lot of life's most important lessons as we walk beside our tweens and teens, and I had one of each when we hopped the pond. 'Cept we didn't call them tweens back then.

We did talk a lot about the new millennium but had no idea they'd be dubbed with that moniker some twenty years later. Sorry kids!

I spent most of my 40's in the UK and traveled extensively while I was there. My kids even more so, and hubs most of all, but more than the traveling it was the everyday living that changed us in ways that mattered and lasted.

I think I need ten years to write about ten years, but since we don't have that kind of time I'll wrap it up with a few priceless (to me) treasures unearthed in my 40's that I've carried in my pocket ever since-

There is great value in periodically examining the direction of my life and deciding if a course correction is needed. Am I doing what God created me to do, or am I living from habit?

I am capable of learning and doing hard things, things outside my imaginary comfort zone.

God's timing is providential and perfect and sometimes we might need a little bit of hindsight to see just how true that really is.

I can trust Him with my kids. Really trust Him. This has served me well every year since as my daughters have spread their wings and flown in ways my 40-something self could not have imagined or predicted.

It's a small big world and it is beautiful.

'If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:9-10

Wherever I roam there He is.

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 369

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with all your friends and neighbors. One two three go-

 

1. In a single sentence tell us something about your 40's. If you haven't reached that milestone yet tell us (in a single sentence) something about whatever decade you're in now.

2. Life begins at forty. Agree or disagree? Tell us why. And if not at forty, when?

3. Share a favorite book, song, or quote with a number featured in it somewhere.

4. A picture's worth a thousand words, a stitch in time saves nine, back to square one, catch-22, on cloud nine, my two cents...pick a number phrase and tell us how it applies to your life currently.

5. Last time you drove more than 40 miles from home? More than 400 miles from home? Where were you going? Was it before or after this current season of social distancing?

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Rolling The Dice In The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Hodgepodge! If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger linking before you. Don't forget to add a link back here in your post somewhere, so your readers can play along too. Here we go-

 

1. Ever played the game Farkle? Are you a risk taker? In games only or also in life?

For those who don't know, Farkle is a dice game and yes, I've played. My daughter2 also gave me a yard version of the game with giant wooden dice to throw onto the grass and it's a lot of fun. 

I will take risks while playing games, but am less of a risk taker in life. I guess it depends on the potential reward?

2. What's your favorite thing about your yard or whatever outdoor space you may have?

The view. I've posted a million pics but what's one more?

Or two?

It's a dog's life for sure!

3. Tell us about the most interesting building you've seen or been in.

Now this is hard, because I've been in so many interesting buildings. Countless castles, castle ruins, and cathedrals all across Europe, sky high towers in Asia, and closer to home NYC. A few favorites are The Houses of Parliament in London, The Guggenheim in NYC and The Colosseum in Rome. 

If I have to pick a 'most interesting' I'm going to say the Abbey at Mont-St.-Michel sitting high atop a tidal island in Normandy France. It was built in the 11th century and the notion of it's intricate and ornate construction on this piece of land in that time period is truly amazing. 

4. In this current season of social distancing, what's something you've come to realize you take for granted in more ordinary times? Do you think you'll make a conscious effort to appreciate whatever that 'it' is once normal life resumes?

A well stocked grocery store. Making plans for future travel, family gatherings, and events. Sitting beside someone in church, at a ball game, concert, restaurant. 

One reason I enjoy keeping up with my blog is it helps me remember things and how I felt about them at the time. When life resumes some sense of normalcy I think reading back will be a gentle reminder to feel gratitude for the ordinary everyday things we missed during this season of strangeness.  

5. Share a favorite song with a springtime flower in the lyrics somewhere.

I love Wildflowers by Tom Petty- 



6. Insert your own random thought here.

Hair salons are reopening in our state next week but sadly my appointment was for this week. Good news though! I was able to get an appt for later this month which felt like a real coup. It's the little things, right? 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 368

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. Here we go-

 

1. Ever played the game Farkle? Are you a risk taker? In games only or also in life?

2. What's your favorite thing about your yard or whatever outdoor space you may have?

3. Tell us about the most interesting building you've seen or been in.

4. In this current season of social distancing, what's something you've come to realize you take for granted in more ordinary times? Do you think you'll make a conscious effort to appreciate whatever that 'it' is once normal life resumes?

5. Share a favorite song with a springtime flower in the lyrics somewhere.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Mother's Day Post Game Analysis

Good Monday morning! I know it's afternoon but I started typing hours ago and just now got back here for sentence number 2. It's been a while since I wrote a 'what I did this weekend' kind of post, but I have some pictures I want to save and this is where I'm going to let them land.

We've had the loveliest spring, although I could do with a bit less wind and there was that tornado a couple weeks back, but mostly we've had true springtime weather. Blue skies, pleasant temperatures, and no humidity. Next weekend we'll hit the upper 80's so going to enjoy this while it lasts.

Daughter2 is in the house and her boyfriend has joined us for a few days which has been really nice. Friday night we made pizzas on the big green egg and while we're still perfecting the technique (mostly the sliding it on and off the peel without any naughty words being said), they do get better every single time.

This one was delish! I made the Pioneer Woman's pizza dough recipe and it's a keeper. This recipe makes a thinner crust which is what we all like best.

Mother's Day was just gorgeous. Daughter2 gave me the most fun gift called Yardtzee which is the backyard version of Yahtzee and Farkle. Giant wooden block dice that come with a plastic bucket for tossing them onto the grass.

The set includes big wipe off scorecards with a dry erase marker, and we had a great time breaking it in. #winning

We took a little boat ride mid-afternoon but decided it was too breezy to be out on the water so we made our way back and spent most of the afternoon relaxing beside the fire pit. Hubs grilled steaks for dinner which were 5-star and my resident baker, aka Daughter2, made the most scrumptious Victoria Sponge for dessert.

She and I love to watch The Great British Baking Show and they make a lot of sponge every season, which was her inspiration. She used Mary Barry's recipe and we all loved it.

We also Facetimed with Daughter1 and our favorite little men and on the other side of the globe which is always a day brightener. This picture isn't from our call, but I saw it on her page and swiped it because I'm the mom and I can do that.

She gave me a really interesting gift that I'm super excited about, but I'm not going to say too much more just yet. It falls into the category of 'an experience' so I think I'll wait and share details later.

It was a good day. A strange day as all days are in the age of Corona, but it felt almost normal being outdoors, hanging with my girl, calling my mom, and texting with my sisters. I know Mother's Day is a jumble of emotion for so many, but I appreciate the pause to think about what the mothers in my life mean to me.

 And the gift of motherhood I never want to take for granted.