Something different happened this past weekend. Lockdown could be summarized as weeks of mental torpor and fatigue, wishing I was inspired to be creative while I was stuck at home. With few exceptions, I crept through the occasional project with little enthusiasm.

Friday came. Finally, I had the energy and inspiration to start a sewing project – one I’d been planning for a long time but hadn’t had the bandwidth to get started on. It came out just as I’d hoped.

The next day, I tackled a wall mural that I’d been planning for months. It was a group project with the kids. We had our moments – like when I hit my head on the door frame while doing some of the detail work on the mural, but somehow, every kid (except my oldest, who didn’t care) got to help paint a section of the mural or consult on color choice.

When you live in a house with others, sometimes when another person experiences a mental shift, it’s like the wind has changed direction and everyone can feel it.

Two has been complaining of boredom and moping around for weeks, but yesterday, something changed for her, too. She got up off of the sofa, and announced she was cleaning the bathroom. Which she did. From top to bottom, including all the parts she normally skips, like the bathtub and the radiator covers. She even wiped down the door frame.

She didn’t stop there.

She moved on to the kitchen next, and it was CONTAGIOUS. Everyone chipped in. Floors were cleared. Bedrooms cleaned. A pack of kids went downstairs and swept and organized the basement. Laundry baskets got unloaded. For the first time in my married-with-kids life, our entire house was basically clean at the same time.

Since everyone was working together, I even got to tackle some areas that usually stay cluttered even when everything else is clean.

Quarantine has been exceedingly weird, complete with anxiety meltdowns, tears, raging, and sadness, and that’s just me.

But this weekend was an energizing time of teamwork with a fantastic finale. It ended outdoors, with the Chaplain playing ball with the kids while I worked on a sewing project in my outdoor office.

Maybe we can have more days like these. Maybe this weekend will just be a good memory to look back on during the tough days.