The COVID_19 Trilogy- Part 3: Where do we go from here?

Years from now we'll look back on this time and hopefully be really proud of the fact that we kept our kids alive.

So now, months later, this crazy pandemic had started to settle down a bit and we were all trying to go back to our normal lives. Is this even possible? What is normal now?

For months we were more or less held prisoners in our own homes. Terrified of the outside, keeping a distance from our family and friends.

The biggest concern was not knowing if and when this will end.

Status Check:

Well, over here in Israel we had been fighting this infection since mid-March. We're at a point now where schools have mostly opened, people who still had jobs have gone back to work, stores are opening their doors but is it really behind us? Or is the other shoe going to drop any day?

It's against the law (here in Israel) to be out in public without a mask. If your mask is under your nose you will receive a fine of 250 nis ($72). If the mask is under your mouth you will receive a fine of 500 nis ($145).

As a parent it's confusing and scary to be in the position where you need to decide am I sending my children back to school? They've been home with me for months and months and MAN that was rough. But is it actually safe?

Will my child be okay?

At the end of the day that's a parents biggest worry. So do we send them back or not?

Emma was going every day to a small private preschool across the street from our house. She was excited to go every morning and it broke my heart to take that away from her.

I like to think of myself as a good mother but I'm fully aware of the fact that I just don't have the patience or the desire to occupy her every minute of the day. Emma was home with me for 2 years and 7 months. During that time I got pregnant with Bella and gave birth and for 7 months I was home with 2 kids.

I'm exhausted.

When we heard that preschools would be opening up at first we made the decision not to send her back. We didn't want to yank her away from family members who are in the "at risk" category again and since I was out of a job we are living on one income.

The day her preschool re-opened Emma was still at home with me. Throughout the day I was receiving pictures of all her friends having so much fun. I kept telling myself to put the group on silent and just not look. For some reason I just couldn't.

I looked at my beautiful, smart daughter and could just see and feel all that she was missing out on.

Of course I can do projects with her, and we can play make believe, sing songs and read books but it's just not the same. At that moment I started to cry. That's when Assaf really understood the situation. We needed to send her back. We didn't know how yet, but it was something that needed to happen.

He said that he hadn’t been thinking about her (Emma) or me. He was so focused on protecting his parents and on the money and Corona aspect of it all. But what's more important right now is us.

Emma needs to be with kids her age, she needs some space from me and Bella. I need some space. So with all that being said, we decided that this was going to happen. I spoke to her teacher and we worked something out that was comfortable for us and for her.

What I didn't really give much thought to was the morning drop-offs.

After such a long time being home, our kids could have a hard time saying goodbye to us. With Emma I think she felt abandoned by the people she was so used to seeing on a regular basis. She couldn't really understand, no matter how many times I would explain to her, that people are getting very sick and the people in charge of where we live made a decision that we’re not allowed to see any family or friends just in case we are sick or they are sick.

Ugh I kept trying to think of better ways to explain it to her.

All she knew was that people are sick, she's not going to preschool anymore, she can't see people that she loves, her father was home more and pretty much anything she wanted to do she couldn't.

How rough is that???

So now she's back at preschool, things are opening up....

But, is everything back to normal?

Well, remember that second shoe I was talking about earlier?

(Well this was actually 2 weeks ago- but who's counting)?

It DROPPED......

Second Wave has arrived. Is it worse?

Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.....