It is the start of the fourth week of the “New Normal”. It is later in the evening, and I am just now sitting down to write. I had a huge workload today, and I spent the day unplugged from the news and social media to focus on work and to focus on the positive. Part of me feels guilty for putting my head down and ignoring all that is going on in the world; the other part of me feels that there is not much that I can do other than pray and wait.
This morning was the first time during the “New Normal” that Brainy Bird arrived early for homeroom, and the first time that Little Chirp arrived late. Little Chirp was tired all morning, until he headed outside to shoot some hoops. There is a long list of things about our little home that make the current situation better, and that broken basketball goal is at the top of this list. I think that Little Chirp has a legit shot at making the seventh grade basketball team next year. He did not have much of a chance before all of the practicing that he started doing.
Brainy Bird finished his morning reading and then helped me finish a blog post that I was writing for work. He then spent the morning and most of the afternoon working on his engineering class assignments. He had a look of accomplishment on his face when I checked in to find him typing up a conclusion to some sort of project write up that he had been working on. He then took the latter half of the afternoon off to hop online and play a board game with some of his friends. In a high schoolers world, after school orchestra, band, sports, robotics, choir and theatre have been replaced by on online board games.
Little Chirp is already done with most of his school work for the week, so he spends his productive hours at his broken basketball hoop and playing his violin. Each day he starts to pace around the house around five in the afternoon wondering when Brainy Bird and I will free up to eat dinner and play games with him. Tonight, we had leftovers for dinner and then we played 2 games of Mario Party 9 and a game of Killer Bunnies. The boys each won a game of Mario Party, and Little Chirp won Killer Bunnies. I really thought I had won at Killer Bunnies, but Little Chirp took it in the end.
Little Chirp has convinced me to let him stay up with his brother until 10 tonight, so they are in the garage apartment playing video games now. My guess is that they will not actually wrap up by 10 because they know that I will be fast asleep and none the wiser. I might get a head start on all that I have to do for work tomorrow, just to be sitting here at my computer when Little Chirp tries to slip in the backdoor past 10 PM. Little Chirp asked while we were discussing bedtime tonight why it matters if they stay up late and sleep late if they still get all of their work done tomorrow. Honestly, I am not entirely sure that it matters. I do believe that somehow getting up early makes a person more productive, but I feel that Little Chirp has a point.
This has been an “ordinary new normal” day. I am not saying that we had a bad day; to the contrary, we had a good day. Do not think that means that I am at peace with where we are right now. I will be on my knees praying tonight. I will pray for a miracle. I will pray for our country to unite. I will pray for the health and safety of my family. I will pray.