When life hands you lemons…

You guys!!! Life is just flat crazy right now. I almost cannot wrap my mind around all of the changes EVERY SINGLE DAY. I have been VERY quiet lately because there are SO DARN MANY THINGS happening and honestly I just cannot keep up…mentally. Just when I think I have mastered running a business from home, home-schooling, AND eating 176 snacks a day, another curve ball arrives and BOOM I end up binge watching Netflix with my kiddos and making homemade playdoh. And then playing with playdoh by myself because my kids are just EHHH about playing with playdoh, but I think it is super fun after 5,000 days of social distancing and cooking home-cooked meals every night like some sort of sister wife.

Honestly, I wish I could say I am rolling with the punches, but mostly I am just rolling up cookie dough balls…and then eating them LIKE. A. BOSS. If there is one thing that this whole COVID life change has taught me (besides the fact that I have a major sugar addiction that needs to be taken care of immediately after quarantine ends), is that WE CAN adapt. I can take the lemons that life hands out, and squeeze the ever loving crapola out of them. I might not make any lemonade, but I just might make SOMETHING better…because lemonade is really not that yummy anyway, let’s be honest. Chocolate milk…if I could squeeze lemons and make chocolate milk…then things would REALLY start to get rolling over here AM I RIGHT?!?!

But seriously…who would have thought that an entire country full of moms could ALL AT ONCE start teaching their kids to carry the one??? Who would have thought that a whole group of small business owners could quickly change their ENTIRE business model and stay above water for 2 months without opening their doors?? Who could have imagined in January, that 2020 was gonna be the year that being on unemployment was the new normal and sitting in line for free potatoes was JUST what you did on a Friday afternoon??

All of that to say…I MISS YOU and I MISS THE OLD WAY OF LIFE…AND I MISS EATING AT RESTAURANTS WITH MY BESTIES. BUT…I am ok. WE are ok!! We can milk this life-lemon and make something AWESOME. We can come out of this thing strong and changed (and a little bit chubby) and be different. Because that is the truth bomb for me. The real reality that set in about week 2 of this whole ordeal. I CANNOT go back to the way I was before the stay home order. I WILL not go back to the way I was before. I cannot go back to drinking lemonade because NOW I know that I can make chocolate milk. I CAN spend hours playing card games with my kids on the floor until my old lady legs ACTUALLY stop working. I CAN make do with what I have left in my freezer for a few days, even though it isn’t what I feel like eating. I CAN celebrate my kid’s birthday without a Pinterest worthy theme and matching decorations. I CAN spend entire days with my family together at home and not wanna pull my hair out. I CAN even take a walk at 3 in the afternoon in my jammies and NOT worry about what my neighbors think. I can do hard (maybe even harder than I think) things…we all can!!

I am actually not entirely sure WHAT ALL I CAN DO yet…but whatever life sends me…lemons, limes, hopefully tacos (preferably ones I do not have to make myself…if life is taking requests at the moment)…I am ready! I am ready to take this slower pace and cozy family togetherness and make some changes. I don’t have all the answers yet (if YOU do, please fill me in), but I know that change it is a comin’. More nights in. More saying no to outside obligations. More family time. More simplicity. More quiet. More…LESS. Doing less, being less, expecting less, buying less…just LESS. Less driving. Less hurrying. Less comparing. Less stressing!! Ahhhh…doesn’t it sound so…RIGHT??? As much as I want life to go back to normal…and I REALLY REALLY do. I want a NEW normal. A BETTER normal. A just plain happier normal!!! No more lemonade. I’m ready for chocolate milk…or WHO KNOWS…maybe even a milkshake…with a side of fries!!

Let’s chat about it. How are you holding up?? Are you ready for a change?? Loving the quieter life?? Finished with EVERY show on Netflix?? I would love to hear from you. Hang in there!! We are all in this together…separately:) Love, JESS