No Regrets

Winter break has been a real break in this house. We have often had to check what day it is by asking Alexa; we got take out and took walks and rode bikes and watched so much television OMG. Like, so much. I spent the entirety of New Years Day binging Bridgerton and I have NO REGRETS. We did a puzzle, played a few games, baked, cleaned up, baked, cleaned up, cleaned out a closet or two, saw friends around a fire pit two times and did very little else. What else is there?

But, I also have no regrets about staying locked down. It’s the right thing to do, right now. It’s all I can do to help the greater good. But it is hard. I know we can do hard things, but this is becoming an extreme sport of hard things.

As we prepare to re-enter the “routine” of virtual school and virtual work after a real and true break, I realize how much I miss a routine. And not this virtual routine crap where every time a teacher lets a class go a little early, I get a tween visitor to my desk to chat in between classes. I miss real life. I miss my friends. I miss Book Club, which was just a great excuse to see and socialize with women I adore and don’t see frequently enough. I miss going out to dinner with another couple and sharing a bottle of wine and a few good hours of stories and laughter. I miss my annual girls weekend with my best college friends. I miss my husband’s annual college friends trip, where he’s gone for a few days I take up the middle of the bed. I miss bumping into colleagues at DECO or Brew Ha Ha or the other Brew Ha Ha or in Leg Hall. I miss drinks out at a bar with friends for no reason at all, a long lazy coffee date, spa services, barre class. I miss it all.

If the vaccine distribution plan goes as it should, we should be vaccinated by summer. It’s going to be a long winter, but when we emerge, healthy and free from any long-term impacts of COVID that are yet to be identified, I’ll know that we did everything we could to protect our family and ourselves. And I’ll have no regrets.