Everyone is still ranting and raving over stay-at-home orders, school e-learning,
and being confined with our families. No place to go, no hanging out with friends, no eating out, no birthday parties or vacations. I am taking a different mindset – gratitude. Things that I will miss, and have greatly enjoyed during this major shift in our daily routines.
The ability to work at home, right next to my husband, as we both carry on with our video virtual meetings, emails, and spreadsheets. I am not having to get out of bed at 5:15 in the morning, and endure a 45 min commute to work. I have been able to have coffee every morning, lunch every day, and be "home" in time for dinner at a decent hour with the one person in my life who is my ride-or-die rock.
I have been lucky that I have two 15-year old girls who are self-sufficient. I haven't had to help with their e-learning or set up all their Zoom meetings, while still trying to maintain normalcy with my regular job. I cannot imagine how two working parents with multiple younger school-age kids, or single parents do it. Kudos you all of you!
I foster dogs through a rescue group, so I am happy that I have not had to put these poor, scared little furry souls in a crate from 7am to 4 pm every day. I've been able to take them on walks, occasionally play fetch in the house, and even give them couch snuggles when hubs and I both have conference calls and I head to the couch for mine.
I will miss the view from my home office window. My professional office doesn't have windows, so many days, I never new if it was sunny, raining, snowing, or the whole world fell apart outside of those four walls. I have been able to watch a robin building her nest in the crook of our gutter, and the squirrels run by window and antagonize our three pups. I have watched the sun fill my home office, and even this morning, watch as new snow fell and everything was so calm. I've enjoyed seeing all the neighbors (that I didn't even know we had) all walking with their spouses or dogs, and watching the endless stream of Amazon, FedEx, Culligan's and Swanson's trucks drive in and out of our neighborhood.
I will miss seeing many of my brides this year because they are rescheduling their weddings for 2021, but this had given me a huge opportunity to take more classes to improve my techniques and gain some new ones, and also to work on my business itself. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes that my couples don't know about, and it's giving me time to breathe, organize, learn, educate other photographers, and improve my services all at the same time, so I can come out of this ready to rock, and provide more than ever before.
These are all things I would have missed out on over the last 30+ days in my life, had this shift not occurred. Am I tired of being cooped up inside? Sure, I'm a person who is always on the go (and sometimes a bit claustrophobic), but this has forced me to slow down, take a deep breath, relax, and simply enjoy what's really going on in my life without external distractions. I can honestly say, I don't think I am ready to return to "normal", and when it does, maybe I need to re-evaluate what my "normal" will become.
XOXO,
~Deb
#stayhome #covid19 #corona #attitudeisgrattitude #momlife #worklife #chicagoweddingphotographer #milwaukeeweddingphotographer #thankful
