Friday, March 13 our normal changed forever. One thing that has become very clear during COVID-19 and a look ahead to our “new normal” or “next normal” is moms are like a swiss army knife – mom, cook, teacher, therapist, coach – all trying to make it through this self-isolation without losing a camper, a body part or our sanity

A few insights on these roles from my view of the first 45 days:

Mom – Toilet Paper, Paper Towels and Clorox Wipes – Our years of prepping for Black Friday shopping prepared us well for what was to come.

Cook – It is good to have a husband and son who love to cook 🙂

Teacher – A virtual school run by moms and dads who only know how to do multiplication by carrying the one and never once sounded out a word or learned to spell with red word is a challenge.

Coach – Old school activities like hula-hooping, basketball, croquet and street hockey can burn off a lot of energy and teach you about the competitive spirit of your family as the days go on. I might have missed my calling as a hockey player.

Therapist – In this role, I am trying to remember the things we have to be thankful for during this time and have started a list as a reminder to myself and our family:

• Healthy family and friends
• A safe home and food so we can shelter at home
• All of the teachers and their patience and dedication
• Our amazing health professionals who are on the front line fighting for us
• My running shoes and the miles I can still get out and run
• Afternoon family fun
• Nighttime snuggles
• Hugs
• My Julri coffee maker and my peloton bike
• Virtual walkie talkies to catch you
• Virtual happy hours to stay connected
• Our nonprofits making sure our neighbors in need are helped
• Spending time with my family versus sitting in Atlanta traffic
• Amazing clients who understand mom time comes first

Knowing that we will come out of this….

To all the moms out there, keep up the hard work, use those swiss army knife skills and give yourself a lot of grace!