Song, Sunshine, and Stories: May 2020

April 15, 2020

As we move into day #35 of social isolation and 6 days now of TJ's enforced 4 weeks' layoff, I have learned a great deal of information about myself and the world lately. The coronavirus panic hasn't affected us to an extreme extent. In fact, it has granted us our first month's vacation we've ever had in the five years we've been married! TJ has been working hard on his side job of customer relations and website building for a company that has been paying us pretty well, replacing our lost income from this month. Now he has time to do it at his leisure instead of staying up late every night (and getting up at 4:30 every morning!) We are so incredibly grateful, in this time where so many are suffering financially during the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression almost 100 years ago.

One of the biggest things I have learned about myself during this time of staying home--since Governor Abbott's stay at home order I have seen no one except drive by friends saying hello and running into one of the local pastors we know at Walmart--is that I am apparently an introvert who has been masquerading as an extrovert my whole life. This is kind of a hilarious discovery for me, and I kind of like it because I feel like a chameleon--when I need to be an extrovert I know how to be one, but my default mode is very introvert-ish! I have been to no social functions whatever, not even church, for 35 days and I honestly haven't begun to miss people yet. I do miss people in a general way, don't get me wrong I love my friends and family here very much. But I am very happily content at home. In fact, I've been guiltily enjoying the lack of pressure of social obligations! I don't have to get dressed up and drive somewhere and be on my best behavior the whole time, all the while taking care of two very energetic young children and enforcing their best behavior.

May 20, 2020

Well here I thought I would have all this extra time for journaling, ha ha. Nope! Before I could finish my last post, my Dear Husband started so many projects at once that he's been on the computer daily until midnight half the time, and the other half of the time he's been working hard on things around the house and I help him or take care of the girls. I am trying to restructure my schedule which is hard when there are no factors in one's life to force one to keep a schedule--we are not sure when TJ goes back to work at Pantex--and getting up early and writing is one of those goals. If you see posts published here more on the regular you'll know I've gotten my schedule by the nose and conquered it!

To continue my previous thought, I have decided that I'm a selective extrovert. I don't like being by myself (except for small portions of time which is rare and really nice), but if I have "my" people, my favorite people, around, I can be happy forever. Texas re-opened last week by half and is working on the other half this week, with lots of safety restrictions in place (social distancing and wearing masks even in church--oh yes church is opening next Sunday), and we have started seeing friends again. But I have loved every second of this special family time we Greers have experienced together! After five years of working our asses to the bone, often opposite shifts, seeing each other in brief moments of time and being exhausted constantly, we have had over a month of refreshing, obligation-free time to just enjoy each other. TJ and I can't get enough of each other, and the girls won't know what to do with themselves when Daddy goes back to work. We bought a medium sized above ground pool and the hottest spring time on the record here means that we've been in the said pool almost daily. We've completed so many great projects around the house I'll have to write a separate blog post about it.

My heart is filled with such an conflicting mixture of emotions. On the one hand my heart grieves for all those who are suffering the time of greatest stress of their lives--loss of jobs (40% of Americans are currently unemployed!) and fear of a virus. On the other hand, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for the blessings our family is experiencing. May the Lord have mercy and heal this land!