Getting Unstuck

I know, I get it. It doesn't seem right—especially now—to complain about getting off track because of vacation. Seriously, I get it. Most peoples' trips were cancelled or not even considered this particular beauty of a year. But by a little bit of luck and a lot of sheer will, we took both our epic RV adventure and made it to our favorite lake on the opposite end of the country. Both were all the stuff of family trips: lots of planning, lots of packing, lots of details, lots of fun. (And of course some not-so-fun moments better left unsaid).

But because the trips were so close together, and because vacation always throw us off our regular routine (and rightly so), it was a hard re-entry for this particular clan.

And by hard I mean horrible.

For many of us, the beginning of lockdown was kind of an exciting adventure. Like when the electricity goes off on a stormy night and the candles come out and the monitors go blank and everything changes. It's fun for about the first hour or two. Then you start worrying about the food in the fridge going bad and how you'll get your garage door open in an emergency. The novelty wears off very fast.

The same can be said for this ever expanding lockdown. At first, we cheered: "No school! No activities!" We loved having lots of time for meals and baking and playing games and re-connecting. We made goals and created new, healthier habits.

Those days seem long ago. No one is cheering "no school!" anymore. Quite the opposite. Most parents are just about at their breaking point. Most kids are too. And here we are. Still here.

Coming back from our trips looked like this: no schedule, no routine, forgotten goals, and an uncertain future in terms of the Fall. If you live with other humans—especially quite a few of them— this is a recipe for disaster.

So we've had to go back to the beginning. Routines put back in place. The goals we so

enthusiastically made at the beginning of summer had to be re-evaluated and re-committed to. And a daily plan for screen time, outdoor time, and chores was re-instated. This applies mostly to the younger set (the older ones have jobs, training schedules etc). Of course they complained at first but these smiles are a far cry from the sullen, grumpy ones we faced after a few days of unfettered freedom. Read: chaos.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish" Proverbs 29:18

Especially the moms.