A Fleeting Moment

Once in a while, we each have those moments when it hits us, and often smack dab in the face.

An unexpected change

When the pandemic hit, my little family was fortunate.

My husband was able to work from home and I was able to teach our 2-year-old daughter at home, having the background experience of a preschool teacher. And let me tell you, what we gained from having this unexpected time together was something I never imagined.

Did I want there to be a pandemic and terrible conditions for it to happen, absolutely not!

What happened

Everyone thinks they know their child, and to a point, parents do.

However, when I finally had the time to spend 24 hours, 7 days a week with my daughter, I found out I didn’t know her as well as I thought. And you know what? It brought me this moment of clarity, we have this precious, extra time together and I was going to make the most of it.

Making every moment count

When you start living in the moments rather than just passing through them, it’s amazing what comes from them.

Being a working parent, I truly tried to suck up every moment we were home together. It was hard to hear about all the new things she was experiencing when we weren’t with her at school, but that’s what happens. Parents need to work and kids need to go to daycare.

Now with this newfound time at home, we wanted to make every moment count. We wanted to experience things with her as well. So we did hands-on projects like making birdhouses for the backyard. Sounds silly, but it’s things like that that we are all going to cherish and remember for years to come.

And with this newfound time, we enjoyed the little things, like finding a book buried in the back of the shelf not yet to be read.

When I look back

Looking back on these past two and half years, I realize that it wasn’t as great for the world as it was in our household.

I realize that this added time I gained with my little family, with my daughter, came at great cost to so many other people in the world, and for that, I will forever be truly heartbroken.

However, with that being said, I will choose to look back on the positives that we gained.

The video chats we had with family, trying to get my daughter to sit in front of the camera for the fortieth time as we laughed together. Making messy projects that left a permanent purple stain on my favorite dish towel. And most of all, getting to experience more of my daughter and her personality than many parents get the opportunity to have.