We’ve asked a mum of one of our families at Dundonald Church to write a blog about what life is like for her and her family in lockdown
#5 – 28/05/2020 – Hopes, Joys and Sorrows
Will life ever go back to how it was before coronavirus?
There’s been more discussion in our house recently about what we can and can’t do, and how long is this going to go on for. We are all weary of the lockdown, and the children have moments of being sad or annoyed at the restrictions. I think I was hoping for more of a return to “normal”, and so I’ve been feeling a bit discouraged that life might be quite different for a long time, if we ever go back to how it was before.
There’s hope that one of our children will be able to go back to school after half term, and there is some excitement about that, though I think it’s going to be very strange to be there with so many restrictions and distancing. It will be wonderful for them to see classmates in real physical space again, and to have teacher input and some kind of farewell to primary and transition to secondary.
We’ll need to adapt at home too as I expect that having some children back in school will affect what the teachers can do for those still at home. To be honest I’m looking forward to the change – at least it’s something different – little changes and new things feel quite exciting at the moment!
Half Term…
Half term has also been a nice change and a chance to stop the normal daily schedule. Not doing anything particularly exciting! We’ve been playing board games and enjoying table tennis in the garden – very thankful for outdoor space and for good weather for so much of the time we’ve been in lockdown.
The children had a sleepover in one of their bedrooms for a couple of nights and it was lovely to see them enjoying one another’s company – really good for their relationships. We do now have some chalk so they’ve belatedly joined in decorating the path, and we’ve done some bike rides. Lockdown has given me more time to read more with my children, something I often aim to do but only sometimes succeed at. I finished “Heidi” with my youngest just before half term – that was really special.
As a family we really like food, and recently I’ve tried a few new meals, which has been fun. Normally I’m very boring in my meal planning, so it’s been good to add new things. Chicken fajitas was a big hit, even if some did pick out the vegetables!
Distanced Friendship…
The kids are doing really well with zoom meet ups, and we’ve had some fun games on zoom with other families, but we are all longing to see people in person. Some of our children have had some successful socially distanced meet ups in the park with friends and come back really happy. I’ve really enjoyed seeing friends in person too, although it’s frustrating to be at a distance.
“We’re all more convinced of the goodness of actual physical community, so living with social distancing for the foreseeable future is not a happy thought”
It feels like I have to work harder to connect with words to counteract the effect of physical distance. We’re all more convinced of the goodness of actual physical community, so living with social distancing for the foreseeable future is not a happy thought.
And I’m really sad that there’s no imminent prospect of our church gatherings starting up again. I think that’s a right sadness, grief even(?), and one that I need to bring to the Lord, and lament over, rather than try and fix (which I can’t) or adjust to. It wouldn’t be good if we all adjusted to this new way of doing things so well that we stopped longing for the gathering of God’s people.
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natasha.small@dundonald.org
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