I love my children. I really, really do. They love to hug me and are free with kisses as they steal my food. We laugh. A lot! They are great.
However, with the state of the world, their school district decided a few weeks of virtual learning was in order to give everyone a chance to “get healthy”. I’d applaud the decision if it didn’t come at the expense of my quiet work environment.
When our school district bucked the surrounding areas and decided to go to in-person learning in August, I was the mom doing cartwheels in the front yard! Yes!! My peace and quiet will return! My house will be clean!! I can actually work and write without the distractions I grew!
For months, I reveled in the wonderful rhythm my days had taken on. It was beautiful! By eight, it was just me, myself, and I. A quiet breakfast with my morning book. Work in the office until lunch. An hour to read and eat. Maybe take a walk. Before the weather shifted and the air hurt my face that is. Wrap up my work just before the minions returned and I was swamped with homework help and dinner duty.
And just as I was plotted my course for the remainder of the year, the other shoe was tossed at my head. E-learning. before I knew it, my quiet days are shattered into sporadic mini conversations with my home grown humans.
I wish I could say it was a well-organized machine here. Oh, how I wish. But, I have a sunshine wrapped Hurricane whose idea of organized means you have just enough space to write! We are clearly not on the same page when it comes to workspaces.
Gone are the days of quiet accomplishment. I find myself scattered to the four winds as I desperately attempt to run two businesses and write the next great romance series. No sooner do I have a thought is it lost to the random passing period conversations, sporadic lunch requests, and crazy class times that I can never remember. I’m fairly certain I’ve lost my mind as well as more hair in this short span of e-learning.
I truly do love my kids, but I need them to go back to school. I need them to ask someone else random questions during the day. I need the cafeteria heroes to feed them lunch at their insane lunch times. I need the solitude I long for during months of quarantine to return and bring along with it my sanity. I need my quiet back!