Continued Quarantine (plus a Failed 10 on 10)

You know the saying, "The days are long but the years are short"? It's what all seasoned parents say to new parents when they complain about how long their day is after chasing after a toddler while caring for a new baby. Even though there is some truth to this statement (you have to have teenagers or adult children to fully appreciate how fast the years go), it usually causes the new parent to want to punch the older parent in the throat.

Quarantine has certainly changed how space and time move for us. Or, at least the perception of it. Time certainly flies when you are having fun, but is anyone actually having any fun during this stay-at-home order? I mean, sure... I love sleeping in and not rushing around to a billion different activities. Yet, our family is experiencing Sudden Stop Syndrome and it's starting to get to us all. We liked our daily routine. Maybe even thrived on it. Yes, we were busy... but it was a good busy. Our days were filled with meaningful activity and personal connections with our peers. Now we find ourselves just in survival mode, unmotivated to catch up on school work or cleaning.

I'm feeling very unmotivated with photography these days. I'm a portrait photographer specializing in kids and families. But not MY kids and not MY family, ha ha ha! And that's all I have around me. I miss client interaction. I miss trying to get a natural smile from a tween, a toddler to stand still enough for my camera to focus, a 6 month old sitter to belly laugh. I miss instructing dads to pick up their kids to put on their tall shoulders and telling mom to play Ring-a-round the Rosie with their little ones. I also miss all the beautiful locations that we would find to shoot. They are all closed.

Time is not flying. It's dragging by with no end in sight.

I attempted to participate in the monthly photo challenge "10 on 10" this month, but was an utter fail. I did get a few pictures in the first few hours, so I'll post them here.

Muffins in the morning

The current book I was reading (Outfoxed by Sandra Brown)

Bath time for Jocelyn

Cuddle time with Jaina and Shaggy

Getting eggs ready to dye

Egg Wars (a new Easter tradition!)

Easter was so weird this year and it wasn't entirely the Corona Virus' fault. This was the first major holiday that I had to share the kids with Brian. He doesn't even LIKE Easter, yet he got to have the kids? We dyed real eggs on Friday before he came to pick them up and we had an indoor plastic egg hunt in the house after they got home on Sunday. But, I have to admit that it killed me a bit inside to not see Jocelyn's face after she woke up and found her Easter basket on the table.

It's sometimes hard to find our new normal. But, we're trying and that's got to count for something.

Here's a few more pictures from the last few days. Poor Shaggy is going to get sick of me putting a camera in his face!

Sunday night my anxiety was at an all time high. The local Greenville weatherman had been predicting unstable weather capable of producing strong tornadoes all weekend long. A Facebook friend of mine suggested we get a hotel room since I was complaining about not feeling safe in our open floor plan house. So, I packed up my kids and my mom (who we haven't seen in a month!) and took them down the street to a local hotel. We slept well for a few hours since we could not hear the rain or wind due to the sound proofing of the room. At 3:30 AM, everyone's cell phone went off with notifications of a tornado warning. We quickly hid in the hotel bathroom (all 5 of us plus Shaggy!) and watched the weather report on FB from our phones. We'd find out later that an EF-3 tornado ripped through the little town of Seneca very close to Clemson University. It was coming straight up I-85 heading right towards Greenville and Spartanburg. We waited anxiously while tracking the storm. Luckily, the tornado only stayed on the ground for 16 miles and dissipated before destroying anything else. The poor town of Seneca is a disaster zone and there have been several deaths (and two people reported missing) so far. Two other tornadoes spawned at the same time Monday morning, but were less damaging than the EF3.

This one storm system produced tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. For once, the forecast was correct.

Even though a tornado did not touch down in Spartanburg, I don't feel as though we wasted our money at all. It was so fun to all be together on an adventure. It was great to get out of the house. (Hopefully we won't all come down with Covid in two weeks!)

As much as I hate storms, I absolutely love the day after. Gorgeous clear skies without a cloud in sight! Bright, sunny, a little wind. Perfection.