I think most people would agree that we are currently living in a new normal in our country. In some ways, with restrictions on travel, shelter in place orders, and the general isolation, the whole world is currently operating in a new normal. I have found during this time period, the thing that has helped the most at maintaining some “normal-ness” in our household is simply taking time each day and being thankful.
Most people are thankful, at least in part for the things that they have, even as we want more, but in this season of life I think it is more important that we vocalize what we are thankful for. That vocalization allows us to not only feel/think that we are thankful, but to hear all the things that we are currently blessed with in our lives.
My husband has been working strange hours, some days from the office, some days from home in order to minimize the people who are around one another. That puts him in my “space” more than I am used to and has caused us to find our new normal. Most days (since it is still chilly in the morning) I do housework or computer work til around noon, I would normally run errands in the morning (something I am not doing now) and then after lunch was where I worked in the gardens or with the animals. I normally stop “working” around 4 and then start working on dinner between 530 or 6 depending on what I have planned for the day.
Four o clock is my me time. Its where I sit on the front porch when it is warm, drinking coffee, generally with a book in hand and just pause. I love to watch the animals play in the pasture while I sit on the porch, or watch the birds and squirrels in the yard. I even enjoy watching the large farm equipment roll down the roads, its just peaceful. We all need a little peace in our lives. However, now my husband is generally home around or before 4 because of the gym closures and that means my peaceful hour is not so quiet anymore. While I love the peace of sitting quietly in nature with a book, I am thankful for this time where we can come together and chat about all that is going on around us.
It is during this time of togetherness that we are able to discuss what we need to do going forward; financially, mentally, physically. We can discuss what concerns us with the ever changing environment we are in. Most of all though, we can just be thankful that in the midst of the crazy, we have been blessed with this period of time to just slow down, sit on the porch and enjoy coffee together, something that is very rare with our schedule.
“Quarantine Coffee” Recipe
- 2 cups cold brew ( I use a 3/4c: 4c ratio of coffee grounds to water and allow it to sit for 15 hours before filtering out the grounds)
- 2 cups ice
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 cup of milk (we used oatmilk because it is what we had available)
- Then all you need to do is blend it and add toppings, whipped cream in our case.
I hope that during this time of new-ness we all just take a moment, to pause try something different that you may not have normally had the time for and just be thankful for all the blessings that we still have. One day we will all look back on this time and have so many emotions; for some it may be the bright spot in their childhood because parents were more readily available, for others it may be focused on that challenges that we all overcome, but I hope that for all us we take the slow down seriously into our future lives. Let us not forget those quiet moments, sitting on the porch, discussing what all we are thankful for.