Hey Hey!
What a crazy weekend! That rain kept pushing back our little road trip until we really were gone just a little over twenty-four hours. But we got home around ten p.m. on Sunday night, so we were all exhausted by the time Monday morning rolled around.
I saw this post on Shelly’s blog with 10 Questions marking one year of the pandemic and immediately knew I wanted to remember how life was for us in 2020. If you’re a blogger, feel free to use as well!
1. What was life like in early 2020?
When 2020 hit, life was really good. The Slaughter Family rang in the new year in California at the Rose Bowl. Mix and Match Travel was doing great with many trips booked for 2020. The Manda Strong Gala we’d worked on for a year prior had just happened and we surpassed our fundraising goals by leaps and bounds. And then we were in Hawaii on our Spring Break trip when the world at home completely shut down.
2. What was the biggest change?
We went from Tab working two jobs, me working from home amidst shuttling kids everywhere, and four kids who were all involved in different activities, sports, and extracurricular fun living busy lives to immediately all six of us were at home with very little interaction with others. The shift from our normal lives to everyone at home 24/7 was huge.
3. What were your coping mechanisms?
Hmmm…I was nervous, scared, and not sure what to believe at times. I remember turning off the news as well as social media many, many days. We stayed busy and active by lots of walks, bike rides, Peloton rides, workouts from home, lots of family game nights, more movie nights then I can count, and we played so much baseball in the street we might have broken a windshield. Okay, okay…maybe we did break one windshield. Sigh.
4. What did connection in your relationships look like?
The six of us have never been more connected. My kids are like any other siblings which means they fight and argue, of course. But in the most serious part of the pandemic, when we were not seeing anyone else, they got along so much better. They were all each other had which as a mom was neat to see. I talked to family over the phone and even had a few group FaceTimes. Our Sunday School class met via Zoom every Sunday morning so we were able to stay connected to friends that way. And we had several Zoom “date nights” with friends. We’d set the kids up inside with a movie while Tab and I hung out on the patio with our computer {friends}.
5. What will you remember the most?
Just like a high school break-up, when we look back we tend to not remember all the bad so much as the good…right? Well that’s exactly what I’ll remember from this pandemic. I’ll remember how we had so much family time, how we voted Survivor-style on who had to do the dishes one night and after watching the video I laughed so hard I cried, I’ll remember the day we reenacted the Dude Perfect’s Air Soft Battle Royale in our own backyard-with Nerf guns of course, I’ll remember how our friends and family showed up BIG TIME to celebrate Ebby Lee and Nixon’s birthdays with those amazing drive-by parties, I’ll remember having lunch EVERY SINGLE DAY together, and I’ll remember how even in the scary times there was comfort in knowing we were all together.
6. What was the biggest challenge?
In the beginning, the biggest challenge as a mom was just keeping my family safe. There was so little information in the early days and the lack of information was scary. Another challenge was as the chef of this house, I remember getting to the grocery store and being really nervous about the lack of food. It always worked out and I managed to get creative but in those early days the bare shelves of the grocery store were scary. I’d never experienced days when the shelves were SO EMPTY! Instead of our typical beef and chicken meals, we had lots of fish and seafood. Us Texas residents are apparently always going to the beef and chicken first so it was much easier to find seafood.
7. What was a beautiful memory?
Since we were never leaving the house, one thing I had in much more abundance than I feel like I have in typical life was time. My quiet times were much longer and I’ll always look back on those days with beautiful memories of all my quiet mornings spent in my Bible. Another beautiful memory was in the middle of our stay-at-home-orders Tab got hired into the NFL. It was a call we’d been waiting on for a long time so to get it-even in the middle of a pandemic-was sweet.
8. What do you believe now that you didn’t one year ago?
I would have said that we can do hard things but I’m not exactly sure I’d believe it like I do now. After those pandemic days, I can confidently say that we can do hard things.
9. What would you do differently?
I wouldn’t let myself get worried or stressed about things outside of my control. I’m the worrier of the family. Tab is quick to say, “There’s no need to worry about it”. And he WILL NOT worry!
10. What will you carry forward?
I’ll never take my friends and family for granted. Hugging friends and seeing people face-to-face, well there’s nothing just nothing like it.
What about you? Best memory or something you’ll carry forward from your year?
Thanks for reading today, friends!
XO
This was such a cool idea! I’ll remember how things were changing by the day. I will also remember all the extra family time I got and reconnecting with friends too!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Such a good post and such a great way to reflect on 2020!
Beautiful post.
http://www.rsrue.blogspot.com
This is a great way to remember a crazy year. Speaking of Hawaii—are you still planning to do a post on your trip at some point? 😊
My kids really bonded during 2020 as well. Of course, there is still fighting and arguing but they seem to really enjoy each other. My oldest is 16 and it feels like I’m going to blink and she will be in college. My youngest is in 4 grade, so normally during this ‘season’ on life they wouldn’t see a whole lot of each other. Since my oldest has a hybrid virtual schedule she is doing school at home a few days a week when the 4th grader gets home from school. He will always pop into her room to say hi and often her math teacher says hi to him too. The other day the teacher even let the 4th grader tell the whole class all about his baseball team 🤣
Loved your post! I will never take church for granted. Our church closed in person from March-August and only offered services online. Don't get me wrong-the ease of watching church in your pjs from home was nice, but not the same. I had no idea how much I would miss church until it wasn't an option.
Unfortunately, here in California our days still look like that. Kids aren’t back in school, sports have barely just started again! But I will forever remember the slow pace!
I love this! Especially the “voting survival style on who does the dishes!”
This is a great way to reflect back on this last year. I think I feel the same in a lot of ways. We have one child and us being her main entertainment was a challenge but we are all closer.
Awwwww! I love this so much!!! I will always remember all of the outside time we had as a family. We were always walking dogs, riding bikes, swimming, playing…we enjoyed so much time outside as a family of six.
So so difficult. I worked in a hospital and could never miss a day of work. I never had the family time at home. So much fear of the unknown virus just down the hall and hoping the N95 mask would really help keep it away from me and I would not take anything home to my family. I had to leave the hospital to preserve my sanity and my exhausted body. So honestly 2020 was just one big blur. I like the questions.
You are fortunate.
We are not so fortunate in Canada.
Barely any vaccines here.
Absolutely no sports.
No one in your house that doesn't live there.
You can see people outside (max 10 people, 6 feet apart with masks.)
k-6 schools everyone wears masks at all times.
Grades 7-12 and all university online.
No grads. No funerals. No weddings. No parties.
Huge economic repercussions for Canada. Job loss is everywhere.
No travel outside of your health district to see family, never mind a fun vacation.
14 months and counting. We are exhausted and sad and weary.
And absolutely no end in sight.
We watch Texas and can not believe how everything is gone back to normal.
I had completely forgotten about the lack of protein in grocery stores… Now I remember when my kids just wanted to grill burgers and we went to three stores and weren’t able to find ground beef. Even though all of our kids are teenagers and older it was hard as a parent to disappoint them was such a simple request. I am so glad you posted this… Last year is a year we should never forget and we should continue to feel grateful moving forward.