It was a typical day here at Griffiths Academy, that’s what I call our remote learning situation right now. I had gotten up and headed into the kitchen to make myself my first cup of coffee for the day. Coffee is life, and if I don’t get one cup in me before I start making decisions or speaking it’s all downhill from then on.
As my coffee was brewing, I said to the kids. “Hey girls, remember how we didn’t eat meat Wednesday, lent started…so today (Friday) we won’t be able to eat any meat. I’ll order us pizza for dinner, sound good?” Lily is just staring at me… so I say “Lil, do you understand why we don’t eat meat during lent?” Lily is in first grade, it’s her first year of CCD. She looks me in the eyes and says” Yes! It means WE EAT PIZZA ON FRIDAY!” No Lily, it means we are giving up something for Jesus, because he sacrificed so much for us. I tried to keep it simple, and I thought I did a good job until Lily said: “OH! So, Jesus is Vegan?” I had just started swallowing my coffee and I almost choked.
I just looked her in the eye and said “No, buddy he wasn’t vegan; we will read about it this weekend.” Oh man, did it take every ounce of being for me not to laugh. I posted the conversation on Facebook because it just needed to be shared. The sweet innocence of the response, the way Lily figured that Jesus must be vegan, because he doesn’t eat meat was genius for her age. She does know that her Aunt Laura doesn’t eat meat and for a short time she was a sincere vegan. Yes, I know “vegan” means no dairy, but I was not going to even bother telling Lily she meant vegetarian, you feel me?
Parent to parent here, I literally thought about Lily’s observation and discovery and how she pieced her findings together. Then, it made me think about if I wasn’t working from home, I would miss out on all these little moments.
Our days usually go really well, we are crushing our remote learning schedules, I have maneuvered my work meetings to weave in and out of the girls live classes like a nice lattice crust on a warm apple pie. Oh, pie…I should make a pie… does anyone else have COVID-19 brain? I swear it is a thousand times worse than baby brain during pregnancy. My brain bounces back and forth endlessly focusing on multiple tasks. I go from kids remote learning to jumping on to one of my meetings, to making lunch, then vacuuming the living room, and running downstairs to grab laundry, then to folding clothes, and now its 3 p.m. and I have a ton of my own work to do.
This day specifically, I had an adult meltdown where I stared at my computer screen and just cried. Yes, I cried because my mind that used to be so magically creative is suffering from overload. So, I pulled out my journal, I made a list of what absolutely needed to get done today, and then I make boxes next to each item. Then, I pulled out my highlighter and I start getting back into my comfort zone of organization. Slowly as I highlighted or check off my boxes the tension I was feeling started to disappear.
Something I never really thought about before is how my children now experience me working from home. Now, they actually see how much I do. So later that afternoon, I pulled out a sketch and showed my girls an idea to see what they thought about a cover I was designing. These kiddos have amazing minds, hence Lily thinking Jesus is vegan based off her discovery of not eating meat on Fridays during lent. The girls had some great ideas and even gave me feedback on how I could make my cover look even cooler.
Just when I felt like I was failing I realized, together we are actually thriving. My children are learning that their mom is more than just their mom, she is a graphic designer, she is a person, and she is human too. Not only are they learning remotely but they are learning a great work ethic as well as multitasking.
For those of you have reached out to me, please keep on sharing—I love to hear from you. Please continue to connect here once a month in The Gazette.
Loraine Griffiths is a fifth generation Hammontonian, graphic designer, wife and mother of three. She can be reached through email at LifeWithLoraine@gmail.com.