Where have you been?

 It's September 3rd and I haven't posted anything since the second to last week of August.  

I haven't quit writing, but I have been doing other things...like trying to fight the internet.  I'll wait while you tell me how stupid that is...like I don't have the emotional lumps to prove your point.   

I've also been prepping for the beginning of a new school year which meant intensive training on new technology and getting 12 people ready for back to school when we will be going to school in a way we never have before.  It's daunting and we need to as a nation recognize that we are experimenting on our children about how they learn, but doing it with literally no will to actually allow for experimentation. We've all become first years in this scenario, with no experience to back it up because there is no experience to back this up.   

This is as of yet, an experience none of us have experienced.  

In other writing news, I pitched a book and they said yes, so I'm the dog that caught the car, and thus now have to finish writing it....so naturally, I'm blogging instead.  This is my nature, always spiraling out, getting to some, needing to get to other, and thinking always, what should I be doing, why can't I muster the will to do that?    

I understand the worry, because we are wilful but often about the wrong things...see prior paragraphs.  However, they should let us have the opportunity to try, because this quarantine has taught us a lot about ourselves.  

What have I learned? 

Covid-19 reveals what we will and won't do, and what we value.   I've learned I love to cook for my children, it's a joy for me that when I don't do, is a sadness.   
Motherhood for me must include cozy times of reading together and chocolate chip cookies. 
I've also learned to schedule driving practice or it doesn't happen. 
Ditto for anything else that needs to happen.  Write it down or it isn't happening.   

I've also been grateful for all the stollen time with my family, every second is precious.   

What do I hope as we begin to try and pick up the pieces...I hope they find screens less enchanting.   

I want my kids to pick up a book and read, get on a bike and ride, and play games with each other.  I think if they did every class for 30 minutes with 30 minutes after break, they could have every class every day and people would feel far less frustration or confusion than they do now.   I want all of us to learn, we didn't need to do all those errands that ate up the day...much of it can wait.   

Learning to recognize people by their eyes might be the greatest lesson.  We tend to not see or recognize people, but having masks means we must and that's a good thing.   

I've also learned, I use writing as a stall against dealing with laundry, dishes, bills and bigger projects I need to tackle, but I've run out of words about this...so I'd better get to work.