Today I was meant to speak at the WAY Widowed and Young AGM. I am gutted that this had to be cancelled, but in these unprecedented and frightening times we all need to do what we can to keep everyone as safe as possible, which, for most of us, means ‘stay inside’ and isolate yourself…
Okay, so I don’t normally do very much exciting outdoor stuff to be honest, but being ‘stuck’ in the house, I am now starting to feel my brain go to mush. I’ve enjoyed sorting out the kids’ Lego (ie attempting to reunite it back into complete sets) and will have many more days of enjoying it, although I have now reached a point where my thumb is red hot, numb, and I have broken every single fingernail trying to prise some of those pieces apart.
Alex, Olivia and I have sat and done a 1000-piece round jigsaw of rainbow gradients together, and although it is not yet finished, we have enjoyed spending time away from screens and doing something mindful.
I have done some home-schooling with the kids, which I have enjoyed too, have learnt some new words in maths (I did do A-Level maths, but in German, so it’s been a steep learning curve), Olivia and I have made a silly video, made a rainbow for our window, painted her bedroom, and are looking forward to painting her bathroom soon.
John and I have had many cups of coffee, drank too much alcohol, and went to bed too late. I am starting to feel the size of a house, and miss my bouldering – not that I went much lately, due to injury, holidays and being unwell…
And despite there being four of us and two dogs here, our house feels empty and I miss having the rest of my family around. I love a full house, and this is not a full house. We are not complete, and I miss everyone. I am sure you do too.
I’ve been good at creative cooking, coming up with meals out of the food we have in the house (who knew that watching ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ back in the day would come in handy eventually, lol!), and yesterday Livvy and I made a vegan chocolate mousse using aquafaba (the juice of a tin of chickpeas) instead of egg whites. Who knew that was possible?!… You learn something new every day.
But the novelty of having time to do all those things I didn’t have time to do before (or possibly didn’t make time for), is beginning to wear off. I miss my routine…
But then I remind myself that when you cannot control a situation, your power lies in controlling how you deal with it. How you think about it. And instantly I feel grateful. So, so grateful for all of us being well. For having a roof over our heads, for having food in the cupboards, for having company, for having a garden, for WhatsApp, and the ability to pick up the phone, or videocall… The list is endless.
Next week, I will make myself a new routine. Must involve writing, being creative, being silly, reading, blogging, playing games, and walking – but only once a day, locally and socially distant of course. It’d be nice if the weather was nice. But who cares? If it rains, look for rainbows. And rainbows, there are many at the moment… 🙂
I hope you’re all as okay as you can be. Hang in there. Breathe. Be kind – to yourself and each other.
Love and hugs,
Elke
xxx
Published on Mar 28, 2020