It’s nice to see more people out and life slowly returning to somewhat normal now that its Spring and it's warming up. It’s such a contrast to the cold and eerily calm and quiet lock down days. One night after Damian's soccer practice on the way home I noticed Tiger’s Diner in Glen Park was closed and is now a different cafe place. On my social media news feed I saw more and more articles and posts about restaurants closing down. One of the most recent ones I saw was the oldest restaurant in Japantown was shutting its doors for good after over 100 years of being in business.
One Saturday I was craving a Hawaiian breakfast with Portuguese sausage, sunny side up eggs and rice and was relieved to see Hawaiian Drive Inn on Mission street was still and very much busy. There was no indoor dining and only to-go orders. It was nice to see they pivoted and stayed in business. On the way back to the car I noticed something else happening.. Change and growth was taking place. There was now a new cute flower shop that wasn’t there before and a new tea and coffee spot to try out. In fact every time I There was a feeling of newness, growth and change.
While losing something familiar can be difficult it offers an opportunity to grow, learn something new, and gain life experience. Growth doesn’t come from comfort zones. When we take a risk we can reap the rewards. Sometimes its a success and sometimes its a try again situation but in my opinion its never a loss when trying something new. I learn something even if I don’t like the result. I can notice what I notice, see what works and what doesn’t and try again.
If you liked this blog and would love a positive and heart centered community to do Mom life with, hop into my group here: bit.ly/AHHHHM
All of our stories during the pandemic might have some similarities and quite a bunch of differences but over all we overcame and a chapter in history that is very unique. The year 2020 will always have a tinge of eeriness or uneasiness in my mind and I also see how so many of us caregivers shifted, navigated and persevered and I couldn’t be more amazed and inspired.
I’d love to memorialize our strengths during this time in a book collaboration. There are definitely some big time losses and grief and uncertainty and yet we kept going and rolled with the punches. We were isolated and still connected. We checked on our people as best we could while keeping our individual families safe the best we knew how.
If you’d love to be a part of this book collaboration, I'd love to have you. I am doing the self publishing route so there is a cost involved and if you need a payment plan, no worries I totally get it. What a cool accomplishment to say you’re a published author and have generations after us read our stories of strength, hope and love. Here's the link for more info: https://forms.gle/M8D9Uh2P7rKseLvWA
At first I was excited and grateful for the time to stay home and decompress just me and my son. We got closer and our bond became tighter. We did our best to come up with our own special lockdown routine and it was interesting. And after over a year of being cooped up in our small one bedroom apartment I was close to losing my shiitake. Thankfully and gratefully I stayed in contact with friends via technology and when the restrictions lifted Damian stayed over at Aunty Crystal's house. Other positive things that came out of the pandemic for me was getting closer to my family back home. Our weekly Sunday Family Facetimes became a thing which was a first ever. We catch up and check in on how everyone is doing and my son loves when he gets the floor to tell one or a few silly jokes. My grandma who turned 91 last summer gets a kick out of watching Damian and its been a big blessing to stay connected through video.
At the beginning of the pandemic the forecast was very doom and gloom but I'm grateful I turned it around and was able to nurture and grow the relationships that matter the most to me. It’s not perfect by any means but I'm grateful for the growth and progress in all of us.
If you loved this and would love more like this, I invite you to hop into my group All heart and Hopeful Resilient Moms Putting Themselves First For Once on Facebook.
