Big or small, good or no-good: this pandemic has made us appreciative of all things that we all once took for granted. These last few months have been a roller coaster of emotions, uncertainties, ambiguities, fear, scare, and what not. It forced us to reflect on our past, on things that were important, on relationships that needed attention, and rely on personal-judgement pertaining to the current scenario.
Things changed, mankind changed, mentalities changed, economy changed, politics changed, people’s overall perspective towards everyday life changed. Initially, at the onset of this pandemic we all had a hard time and struggled to navigate everyday lives, but now after we’ve seen the good, bad and worst of it- we have come to appreciate what we have today. Being able to step out of course with our masks on, walk around with Maze at trails, see real people besides immediate family on the streets, shop at grocery stores, eat our favorite food and desserts that we couldn’t enjoy in the last four months, smize ( smile through eyes ) at people has become our everyday joy. To be able to do all the aforementioned is like our daily boost of Vitamin C.
This unprecedented time made us realize how much time and resources we were wasting behind frivolous things that were either worthless or penny’s worth during the stay-at-home orders. We really did not need all the materialistic things that we chase everyday. We were happy, safe, living, eating and doing pretty much everything we needed for happy survival. I was the chef, the server, the cleaner, the masseuse, the bar tender, the teacher, the dry cleaner, the gardener, the driver, and everything imaginable.
I’m still playing all of the roles but some of the things that changed and have now become a part of our daily lives are listed below.
We cooked more at home. From Indian to Moroccan, to Chinese, to Italian, to Ethiopian, I cooked everything at home. It was a lot of googling and recipe tracking, but it was worth it. My culinary skills grew and so did our weight. Despite all the challenges, we’ve decided to continue cooking at home except for ocassional restaurant meals delivered at home- it feels good to do some saving.
We cleaned our house more often. It’s been over ten plus years I’ve had cleaning help but in this quarantine we cleaned our house ourselves. Every Saturday morning we would work as a team, we would depute and designate tasks and in an hour our entire house cleaning was done. Not sure how long will this self-scrubbing act continue as I am contemplating resuming cleaning help, but it was a good exercise for us all.
We learned to fix little things around the house. In case I never mentioned before- my dryer and kitchen refrigerator broke down soon after our state went into quarantine back in March. We managed for a few weeks until hubs decided to try his hand at fixing the dryer which he was able to after some hitches. As for the refrigerator I am still awaiting the new fridge delivery as chosen by our home warranty. We self-educated to tackle so many household things that otherwise others would have done for us.
We found ways to entertain ourselves at home. When the stay-at-home orders were release, it was still cold weather-wise. We had to find ways to keep ourselves engaged and occupied indoors and we managed fairly. We played board games, we played new card games, we danced, we did craft and home organization together, we learned to bake, we picked up zoom skills, we did so many things that kept us entertained. Glad, it is summer now- there are so many things to do outside in our backyard.
We even took pictures in and around the house which I usually don’t. When taking photos I like to travel across the area to scout newer photoshoot locations, but during quarantine I used different parts of my house as fresh photoshoot locations. Riri took most of my pictures and she picked up photography skills along the process. Excited that my photographer resumed work, at least now I’ll have more professional looking photos of my house.
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