Coming Out of the Pandemic Thriving ...

I do realize that some of the news predicts that we may have a very rough fall/winter with COVID, but for now, I see great hope that the end is within sight. We are planning a vacation (not cross country or international, as we had hoped during Rebekah's senior year), but a vacation nonetheless! We are planning a graduation party and a few folks coming from out-of-state. It all feels so exciting and normal!

However, the pandemic was not all bad for us. We learned so much about ourselves. We grew even stronger as a family. 

Elijah had a perfect excuse to shelter in place and wait out the pandemic before looking for a job. He needed this year plus to rest, grow, mature, take a break from some of the negative forces/people in the outside world and to just be. He has turned into a much sweeter person with the pressures of life taken off his back. He is more focused on doing whatever he does do better and with less complaint because he has the margin to deal with it. We don't plan on making massive changes to his daily life just yet. We have added more cooking to his life, and he is still working with Grandma several days a week. His medieval sword play has returned, but it is more community-based instead of being run by one person. Elijah has stepped into one of the roles of running the program and is doing a fine job as a herald (referee) with some of the kid battles.

Rebekah kept the busiest schedule of all of us during the pandemic, but it was still less than her usual. She needed the break to have more time to think about what she truly wanted to do with her life. She was generally so laser focused on her goals and busy pursuing them that there was little time to evaluate if anything (even tiny things) had changed. She did realize that dance was the most important thing to her above all else. She basically new this, but thought that being a sign language interpreter was a close second. She has realized that it really isn't, especially when she realized how difficult and unwelcoming  the deaf community is to hearing people. So, going to college to be a sign language interpreter is on the back burner for now. She is only going to focus on contemporary ballet for now and just have a job to make ends meet. She can worry about college, careers and other future plans later.

Tim has also enjoyed his year plus at home. He starts back to his brain injury day program one day a week in the middle of this month after his siblings are fully vaccinated. He may increase his days there after a few weeks or try something new. He has realized that he may prefer doing something more purposeful with his time than going to a day program for entertainment and stress because of all the unique relationships. He had his physical yesterday and told the doctor that being home this year had been less stressful than his normal life. He felt that, overall, he had thrived during the pandemic because he has gotten back into making and painting models, become closer with his brother and feels less stress in his daily life. His doctor said that his experience was unusual, but she was very happy to hear it.  

As for me, I am so glad I concentrated so much on the house. I got a cleaning routine down that can be completed in about 25 minutes, not including meals. I have reduced our belongings a great deal and have much more understanding of what we would need/want to help us pass our days if we were stuck at home for a long time again. Let's just say, I was hanging on to lots of things for a rainy day and when that rainy year came, we didn't use hardly any of the things. I have even become cutthroat with books. If I read them and don't love them...they are gone. We are down to three well-stocked bookcases, and I am adding and subtracting books as I read them. I will keep our beautiful collection of children's books. I do intend to have young children in my life in the future, whether that be through grandchildren or providing childcare. I also got so much painting done and feel like I caught up a bit on home care.

So as we rejoin the world, I feel refreshed and ready to find our new normal. There are so many exciting things coming for Rebekah, and I do hope we find the perfect fits for Tim and Elijah. But I also see that they are content and growing just where they are. My little "garden" is growing strong. It is just some of my seedlings are meant to be mighty trees and most trees grow slowly and steadily. 

I pray you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Blessings, Dawn