It's Ain't Over: Scenes from Quarantine (though we were no longer in quarantine!)

Before I start this post, I feel I have to name how 'behind' I am in writing and sharing the adventures of my two small gems. It's been a long but quick few months and to be honest, I have just felt motivated to write. Lots of inner and outer shifts causing a decline in creativity, energy and desire. But here I am, forcing myself to move forward with my posts. For if not, I will get so far behind, I may never feel the pull again. And this blog, documenting important aspects of the girls lives (as well as my own history) is something that feels too important to let fall to the wayside. So, despite feeling a bit down in the dumps, here we go!

Back in December I was hopeful that we were out of the Covid woods. Things were starting to feel that they were going to begin to get back to normal. Sadly, that was not the case. Come January, we were hit with the Omicron variant surge. It almost felt like we were back to square one. Thankfully, despite almost everyone and their mother testing positive (excluding our family; so far), the symptoms were severe in many cases but equally mild in others. Still, in was discouraging. I had many thoughts such as, 'When is this shit going to be over?' It felt like we would never get out of the Covid woods. But, as quickly as the surge came, within 4-6 weeks, cases dropped dramatically and we were starting to feel hopefulness emerge. It is now well over a month since then and we are once again moving into the new normal. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.

Here are some photos of our time between December and now. And here's hoping this may be one of the last Covid posts. I (and the rest of the planet) really are so over it!! Since December we celebrated Hanukkah, Christmas, The New Year. We took a long weekend to Calistoga. We lamented the lack of rain while complaining (that was me complaining) about the weeks of cold weather (cold for California cold). I planned a trip to Panama to uplift our spirits (and to help Amara do her community service hours at school). We saw friends here and there. We spent way to much time on our screens and too little time cleaning the house. But alas, we continued to move through our daily routines as if life with masks, weekly school covid tests and statistics were normal. They are not and I am so freakin ready for this to over.

\