Community Strengthened Through Chaos
As I begin the 38th day… 12th hour, 15th minute and 22nd, 23rd, 24th, second of social distancing, I reflect on everything. Has anyone ever noticed that all the lawns in the neighborhood look good except yours? What about the kitchen floor? Why doesn’t it stay clean? I even found myself pondering on the merits of POTUS's statement about ingesting disinfectant. I mean, there has to be some favorable research about it, right? LOL!
I'm seated at the dining room table--my home office during the day--every few minutes either my son, daughter, or husband walk by me while I'm on a Zoom meeting or webinar or conference call, motioning or mouthing something to me or staring at me as if I'm crazy. “Can't you see I'm working!” This has become my daily reality.
Let’s be honest, some of us prayed and wished to be able to work from home…pre-COVID 19. Now that it’s a reality, most of us want OUT! Working from home means that you not only have to complete all your everyday work tasks, but also link your children to their distance learning and special needs services (my heart goes out to parents of multiples--the struggle is real), AND use your “lunch break” to clean up breakfast, make lunch, and help your child set up their Zoom meeting with their class or attend appointments with their special educator, therapist, and...oops!...now you're late for your afternoon meeting because there is now a passcode on the Zoom meeting that you didn’t bother to record. Let's not get into the million and one passwords and logins for the different sites as it relates to distance learning. Needless to say, our days are now running together. Is there even a Monday anymore? Every day seems like Monday.
Nonetheless, we get up each morning, brush our teeth, wash our face, and may even put on a cute shirt and head to our office--the dining room table--and focus on a day of the unexpected. The community that we are so used to is now physically untouchable, but easily reachable. Even though the days are hectic and overwhelming, we are creatures that adapt to our surroundings and utilize our community to support and help us navigate through territory that is not familiar. In times like this, our community is what bonds us and remains the glue that keeps us together. It may not be pretty sometimes, but our willingness to use this social distancing to strengthen our community is what makes us strong and resilient. So through all the chaos, take a deep breath, BREATHE. We got this!
Written by: Rochetta Gordon, Parent and Board Member, City Neighbors Charter School