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I am writing this as a Mum living, working and homeschooling in rural/remote NSW.
As I sit and write this in lockdown, I still find it hard to fathom that a virus that originated on the other side of the world, is now affecting MY community. This is the community that I have grown up in. This is the community that I have chosen to live in and raise a family. I chose this place because I felt safe here. I feel like I belong here. I have red dust running through my blood. I can usually walk down the mainstreet and greet each person I meet by name, yet in lockdown I have never felt more lonely. I feel disconnected in my own community.
At the beginning of this pandemic, I thought that our remoteness would be our best insurance policy against this virus, yet it is finally here. Covid has claimed the life of it's first victim in my town recently. All of a sudden the reality has hit close to home - it is here. It is real. I worry about my friends, my family, my community.
The hardest thing of all is not having all the answers for my child. He asks: 'When will I go back to school?', 'When will I see my friends? When will we see our family again?'. It has been hard as a parent not to be able to provide a definitive answer, yet his questions are valid. When will life return to normal? And what will 'normal' look like in the future? I wish I knew.
In the meantime, I just make sure I appreciate the small things. We are home together as a family more than ever. I can go outside and spend time in my garden. I can phone or Zoom family and friends. We are healthy and well. I try and focus on what I have, not what I don't have or can't at the moment. And ONE day....(hopefully soon)....life will return to 'normal'.
As I sit and write this in lockdown, I still find it hard to fathom that a virus that originated on the other side of the world, is now affecting MY community. This is the community that I have grown up in. This is the community that I have chosen to live in and raise a family. I chose this place because I felt safe here. I feel like I belong here. I have red dust running through my blood. I can usually walk down the mainstreet and greet each person I meet by name, yet in lockdown I have never felt more lonely. I feel disconnected in my own community.
At the beginning of this pandemic, I thought that our remoteness would be our best insurance policy against this virus, yet it is finally here. Covid has claimed the life of it's first victim in my town recently. All of a sudden the reality has hit close to home - it is here. It is real. I worry about my friends, my family, my community.
The hardest thing of all is not having all the answers for my child. He asks: 'When will I go back to school?', 'When will I see my friends? When will we see our family again?'. It has been hard as a parent not to be able to provide a definitive answer, yet his questions are valid. When will life return to normal? And what will 'normal' look like in the future? I wish I knew.
In the meantime, I just make sure I appreciate the small things. We are home together as a family more than ever. I can go outside and spend time in my garden. I can phone or Zoom family and friends. We are healthy and well. I try and focus on what I have, not what I don't have or can't at the moment. And ONE day....(hopefully soon)....life will return to 'normal'.