Weekend Wrap-Up/Pandemic Thoughts ~ March 15, 2021

 Hope you all had a good weekend and are well rested after losing that hour of sleep this past weekend.

Today, I am linking with Tanya and catching up on our weekend and 1 year pandemic thoughts.

We took off Friday for a quick trip to Nashville for a college information session for our daughter.  

View of the Parthenon from our hotel room.

It is always busy on Broadway in Nashville.

I can hardly believe she is going to be a senior this fall.

We learned a little more about a school potential, ate good food, and visited an art museum.

Now for some reflecting thoughts on the pandemic:

1. What was life like in early 2020?

 Life in early 2020 was full of so many unknowns.  This picture was taken March 12, 2020.  This was when I knew something big was happening.  Grocery store lines were backed up into the aisles.  There were text threads among family members asking if anyone had found toilet paper (any brand!), Lysol wipes, and for a while, meat, bread, eggs, and milk.  

2. What was the biggest change?

For me, I lost my job.  Most of you know I was a travel agent and specialized in corporate travel.  When the airlines shut down and no one traveled, business travelers were the first to stop traveling and will be the last to return to travel.  

3.  What were your coping mechanisms?

Being outdoors, baking/eating, and memes!  I feel like memes really took off during this time.

4.  What did connection in your relationships look like?

We moved our college girl out of her dorm, so it was good to have her home, although it was quite the adjustment for her :).  We definitely spent a lot of family time together!  I do feel like a lot of my female friendships changed though.  A lot of these friends I saw weekly at Sunday School through our church, and when that didn't happen, we fell out of touch.  I would still consider these good friends, but I do miss the weekly connection we had.  It is slowly regaining.

5.  What will you remember most?

I think I will remember the simple times together as a family.  I will treasure the time at home with my family this past year that I would have not had otherwise if I were working.  

6.  What was the biggest challenge? 

I think it was dealing with disappointments on so many levels.  Disappointment of a change in income, change in insurance, change in job for my husband, school calendars changed, unknowns of contracting the virus, do we have enough...fill in the blank, canceled church and social events, people handling it all so differently and so much more.

7.  What was a beautiful memory?

Truly, it was the little things for me.  I so appreciated being home and available to drive my younger daughter to some things when her youth group was able to meet outside last fall.  I loved being home able to do some things and be a homemaker.  I began to wonder how I had been working full time and still cook and clean at home!

One other sweet memory is that we started attending a new church plant a few months before this happened.  Because we are small, we were able to meet (outside of a month or two) in person during most of the past year.  It provided a new source of community for me.

8.  What do you believe now that you didn't a year ago?

I am much more flexible now than I was a year ago, because I believe that nothing is in my control!

9.  What would you do differently?

I would have tried to really learn a new skill.  Other than that, through the ups and downs, even things I didn't handle well taught me some lessons that I wouldn't change.

10.  What will you carry forward?

Jesus doesn't disappoint.  He is in control.  He has been before this past year and will continue to be.  He never changes.  

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Hebrews 13:8