Vol. 17 - Back to Life, Back to Reality

What a long strange trip it's been.

Finally, over three weeks after our son came home from school with a scratchy throat and a total lack of energy, we are back to normal.

Yesterday was the first day since that first night that our son was back in school, that our daughter’s a-few-times-a-week nanny was able to safely come into our home, and Emily and I were able to actually sit down at our desks and resume some sort of routine.

We were neither passing baby back and forth like a hot potato, working in fifteen-minute blocks, nor trying to take work calls quietly while she slept. We were no longer shoving our son in front of screens to occupy him when our professional obligations overlapped. We were done forcing him to take an umpteenth walk around our neighborhood, just to get some fresh air

The last three weeks were one of the longest and toughest stretches of my entire life, mainly because, while everyone in our house caught Covid, everyone weathered it quite well.

That fact, of course, is a blessing. I’m so grateful my unvaccinated kids didn’t get sick. I’m so grateful the vaccines worked as they were meant to on my wife and me.

But dealing with sick kids is easy. You hold them and you love them and you give them medicine as they need it. You eat ice cream and watch movies on the couch and rub their backs as they sleep it off.

What’s more difficult (and what proved to be one of the most exhausting things I’ve ever experienced) is having two kids stuck at home who no longer have symptoms but still test positive. For ten days.

What’s more difficult is the torture test that was occupying two kids under the age of four from 5:30 in the morning until 8:30 at night. What’s more difficult is keeping your cool in the face of a frustrated three-year-old who hasn’t seen his friends, who hasn’t been in school, who has been completely out of his routine, and who has been stuck inside for weeks. What’s more difficult is doing that while trying to remain calm and kind to your partner, doing that while trying to meet the deadlines you’ve agreed to with so many editors, and most importantly, trying to do enough that you feel like you’re not causing lasting damage to your kids.

What’s more difficult is not being able to help your father, who is still recovering from surgery, for fear that you’ll get him sick.

Alas, we’re here, at long last on the other side, grateful for our myriad support systems like school and our wonderful a-few-days-a-week nanny, realizing how lucky we are to have the ability to afford those benefits and how so many aren’t as fortunate.

And though our first day back to life, back to reality was wide open with the unfettered ability to catch up on so much missed work, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I sneaked away from my desk for at least a nap or two.

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Addendum:

I recently appeared on Bryan Ward’s Dad Up Podcast talking about this here newsletter. Check it out when you can!