Years ago, when I had fewer kids, I would go barefoot in the house come summertime. The first warm day there was a bit of dread as I came downstairs sockless in the morning, knowing I was about to find out how dirty my floors had gotten over the winter.
I’d feel the grit under my feet and pull out the broom, and the rest of the summer would be a tug between kids, crumbs, dirt, and my bare feet.
Several kids later, I’ve given up and wear socks year-round. I do clean my floors, often multiple times a day, but not frequently enough for bare feet.
Parenting in regular times is challenging. Parenting during a pandemic when we’re all isolated and chronically stressed often feels like a never-ending nightmare.
Sometimes, naming the good and bad things in life helps us remember the good, and make the bad seem less threatening.
It’s been hard to distill what I want to share about this book, so I’ll start with what my mom told me about it after she sent it a copy to me to read during quarantine: “It’s good.”
What The Wind Knows, by Amy Harmon falls into a unique category that makes it special.
I was listening to the Freakonomics podcast recently and was introduced to the idea of a happiness bell curve.
According to the research, we hit the peak of our unhappiness (or the trough of our happiness) in our late 40’s. Which means if I’m not already in it, I’m cruising towards the pit of despair.
I went to the grocery store for the first time since we got back from vacation today.
Normally, I shop like it’s Armageddon. We have a household of nine and it stinks to run out of stuff. As usual in the weeks leading up to our trip, I let our pantry supplies dwindle to leave less that might go to waste or be nibbled on by mice while we were away.
The second week of our trip, we watched the news as things slowly ramped up. When we arrived in JFK just a little over a week ago, the airport was deserted.
By the time we got home and the Chaplain did a grocery run, we picked up a few things here and there as we slowly got a list together for a bigger grocery run and reoriented to life in the Northeast again.
We ran out of pasta and toilet paper around the same time the grocery stores did.
