We bought a new home, which we are currently painting and fixing up to prepare for when we move in in the coming weeks. We are looking forward to finally feeling settled soon, after so long. We have already met our very friendly neighbors, and Penny carelessly thinks they are an endless source of popsicles.
My work just announced that they will be delaying their opening in the fall. The university, like many, has changed their plan to be partially on-line and having some students on campus, to be entirely online for the fall semester. This is due to the fact that the COVID numbers are again rising, after they were steady for a while. I have worked over 100 days from home (not including weekends and holidays). As far as we know, this is still the "first wave" since the numbers never dropped that low. It's mindboggling that about 1,000 continue to die everyday, with no end in sight.
I'm disappointed for Penny - that she won't be able to start preschool like normal, and be more social with kids. That's the main downside of all this for her. Otherwise, she has really been growing and developing and enjoying spending lots of time with family. I am also so relieved for all of us that we will be able to continue to control how many people we come in contact with so that we can do our best to stay safe and healthy. I never thought I would want to still be home in the fall after so many months home, because the truth is I don't. What I really want is for the virus to be under control and for us to be able to return safely to school and work. Since that isn't an option, this is the next best option, of all the not-great options.
We continue to have a very limited social life. We were able to have a low-key family trip up to Vermont, to visit Michael's uncle and aunt. We just had to limit our stops and bring all our food. It was nice to finally have a change of scenery, and boy does Vermont have beautiful scenery. We are still living with Michael's parents, and occasionally we see some other people in our family and very few friends (socially distant/outside/briefly when possible). We still occasionally zoom with some friends and play games with them.
It's been a disappointing move back from Australia, to say the least. We are making it work, just like everyone else right now. We are grateful we are not experiencing much hardship beyond the occasional ennui and stress that everyone else is feeling right now. It's hard to plan things to look forward to, which is something we would ordinarily do, whether small get-togethers or international travel.
Despite parenting being a general challenge at times, spending so much time with Penny while she is at such a wonderful imaginative age has been perhaps the greatest gift at this time. I know the grandparents have also been very grateful to spend time with her, after we lived across the ocean for so long. I'm not sure if Penny will remember any of it, but I suppose she will see photos and hear stories when she is older. Numerous articles have been written about the struggles of parents working from home right now, but I have yet to read one that talks about how having a child to care for really grounds you and gives you purpose and can help lighten the emotional load at times. You can really just escape for a while by playing with your child and being silly, and I don't think gets celebrated enough at a time where a lot of people need that the most.
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