Like most people, we had grand plans for 2020! After all what was there not to be excited about? Our oldest son was getting married in November so we were looking forward to all of the wedding plans, parties and showers. Our middle son was finishing up his senior year in high school so we were busy with college applications and of course getting ready for the big graduation day. Dylan, our youngest was finishing up kindergarten. Wait a minute did I lose you? No you read that right, KINDERGARTEN! There are 17 years and five days between our oldest and our youngest. I had Christopher in 1996, Beau in 2002, and Dylan was born six weeks before my 43rd birthday in 2013. Now that I have your attention let’s get back to the story. As I said, we had great things planned and our plans were going great all the way up until March 13th. I picked up Dylan from school and we were told to stay home for two weeks and let’s let this virus go away. We thought OK we will stay home and do our part and we will just think of it as an extra spring break. But, as we all know, those two weeks passed and no one was going back to school. We would now be doing virtual school to finish senior year and kindergarten. And as if that wasn’t going to be difficult enough I had to have one more kink in my chain. My husband, Chris, was sent home to work virtually. Well I needed a plan and I needed it fast but first I had to go find toilet paper!

I channeled my younger self, you know, the one that organized everything down to the smallest detail and told the older self to sit this one out. Plan number one, I needed a "bank" so I converted my dining room into an office for Chris. Away went the pretty linens and my grandmothers silver all to be replaced by a computer, printer, scanner, a lot of cords, pens, paper, staplers, you can imagine the rest.

Beau was easy, thank goodness! He did what all teenage boys do anyway, he stayed in his room. He did all of his classes by himself online. He would text me every morning when he woke up to let me know that he was about to get online and that he was ready for me to bring him his coffee. Don’t judge, that’s a whole other blog.

Finally, I converted my sunroom into a kindergarten classroom. I brought down the small table and chairs from Dylan’s room to use when he was working on art projects. I got the iPad and stand set up so that he could have zoom calls with his teacher and friends and I prepared to be an amazing substitute teacher for as long as it was needed.

Day one of virtual school and Dylan had to be on a zoom call with his teacher and classmates at 9:30 sharp. We get on the zoom call and I quickly realized that I can hear no one but everyone can hear us including me yelling at our dog to stop barking. Not only can they hear us but they are seeing me in the background still in my pajamas with no make up on. This was going to be harder than I thought. I needed help so the first text message to Beau goes something like this, “You have to get down here and help me I don’t know how to work zoom and Dylan is missing kindergarten! “Beau made the first of what would be many trips to the sunroom to help his non-technologically savvy mother navigate the waters of virtual classroom teaching. Dylan was not impressed. before we were even an hour into the first day of me being his teacher he told me three times that I was not doing "it" right. "Mommy, Mrs. Knight does not do it that way!" was heard more times than I could count.

The next two and a half months were HARD! Between to many people on the internet and having it crash, to trying to feed lunch to three different people on three different schedules, trying to clean house and do laundry without making noise so I did not disturb anyone at "the bank" and still trying to find the ever coveted roll of toilet paper I will have to say that I was more excited about the end of the "school year" than anyone!

I am happy to say that we survived! Dylan passed kindergarten regardless of how terrible of a teacher I was. Beau's school managed to pull off an amazing graduation ceremony on the football field. Also, I learned all about the ever popular "drive by" bridal shower so we were able to start enjoying pre-wedding festivities!

Somewhere in the midst of all of this I turned 50 and I realized that I was entering my 50's with a much larger appreciation for a great number of things than I ever had before. I appreciate how our church got creative with having services on social media so that we could still hear God's word. I appreciate the amazing teachers that taught my children. I don't know how they do it but they are amazing. I appreciate the kindness and support that I saw in my community helping support the small business' so that they would still be around when this was over. I appreciate our hospital and all of the healthcare workers that have battled this since day one and the sacrifices they have made.

I also appreciate the very personal things that came out of this. I appreciate that Dylan and I had those days that we stayed in our pj's all day and had as much snuggle time as we wanted. I appreciate that I had so much time with Beau before he left for college. We spent hours in the kitchen together where he perfected his quarantine hobby of from scratch pizza making. I appreciate the fact that my husband has been in the "dining room bank" where I could see him anytime that I wanted to, Lastly, I appreciate all of the people that went above and beyond to help make Christopher's engagement and wedding perfect. Yes, we made it to the wedding! Lucky for us they had planned on an outdoor wedding from the beginning so we were able to have the big day go off beautifully. So I will share what 50 looks like with now one married, one in college, and one in first grade, three decades of boys and a lifetime of one very happy Mom!