Thinking about Mother's Day during Covid-19 feels different than other years. I'm a Mom to four kids and one dog, and despite social distancing and not being able to celebrate in some of the ways we would have expected, I feel like Mother's Day this year is about observing some pretty amazing gifts throughout the past 2 months.
Balancing a heavy workload as we navigate how skoah can operate, innovate, create and come out of Covid-19 has been exhausting on many days. Our Shop Owners, shop support, krew, partners and members are all feeling a rollercoaster of emotions and thoughts. On top of that, parents are all managing homeschooling schedules and tasks, figuring out how to login to our kid's ‘whatchamacallit’ portal with 17 different passwords and accounts, trying to find work spaces for all, and sorting out what PE and art class should be. Alongside all of that, trying to find joy and social time and some form of down time in an entirely different way than before, is hard!
But there are some incredible gifts to acknowledge. The before school morning dash, getting breakfast ready, remembering to pack all the afterschool sports equipment, lunches made, library books found, and basketball uniforms washed and sorted is obsolete. I miss cheering on my kids in hockey and soccer and baseball, but appreciate that in the evening, we can have dinner together versus in the car. Feeling like I have failed in not getting 4 kids to 6 activities on a Tuesday on time has disappeared. And what I really love, is seeing them figure out how to navigate a new normal. Not once have I heard them complain about online learning.
As a working parent, coming out of my office and seeing them hard at work, or eating lunch, or reading is a nice change. I feel more connected to them. And yes, the battles and time spent inside is tough on many days, but the battles wrap up quickly, and we do totally different things now. We have camped on our patio, played hours of charades, made family TikToks, and rearranged furniture over and over again.
As a Mother, my biggest take away from Covid-19 is that it is most certainly not what we have, or what we do, but rather who we are with. In changing this perspective, I have felt much more optimistic, and been much more productive and able to more easily let go of things that I know matter much less than the people in my life.
In however Mother's Day unfolds for you, I hope your day allows you some time to reflect on the gifts certain circumstances can bring, and hopefully with a small window to relax with your favourite skoah mask on.
Happy Skin and Happy Mom's Day!
Andrea
