So we’ve pushed through the frustration and worry, built a reasonably functional plan for the school year, and are doing everything possible to focus on enjoying the quality family time looming on the horizon. We decided that, if we’re all trapped in virtual lives, we can spend some of our together time somewhere else. So we’re in the early days of working remotely from Green Lake – a place we plan to be at frequently over the coming months.

Uprooting a household as large and unwieldy as ours is a challenge: so much packing, yelling, fighting, forgetting…but when we finally got everything sorted, drove through beautiful countryside we haven’t seen every week, and pulled up to the lake, we realized how right we were. The kids marveled at fish in the water, walking down the long dock with the dog, and swinging on the swings. As I watched them take turns, I realized they haven’t been on a swing since March. That may not sound like that big of a crisis, but they can swing for hours. The freedom to run, ride bikes in slightly bigger circles than they can at home, and play games in a new space meant the world to them. And therefore, to us.

It’s a clunky transition. I set out to make dinner and realized we had no can opener. Pivot. The baby is not digging the napping in a new environment. Patience. Our timing is goofy, so bedtimes have been laaaaaaaaate. We’ll figure it out. But when we sit down to a meal altogether, looking out at the boats and trees, it feels good. And frankly, anything that feels good and isn’t bad for us is the right choice these days.

So we continue to discuss the drawbacks to seaweed, as the weeds here don’t get cut this week. Minnows mean shrieks of discovery, and demands for adults to focus on the miracle of fish swimming in water. We’ve already had to go to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

It may not be perfect or even pretty, but it’s a new experience. This doesn’t take away from our existing sanity plans, but it certainly gives us a new outlet. So our zoom background will alternate as we move from place to place, and the likelihood of us forgetting homework somewhere is exponentially higher. So what? We’ll figure it out, somewhere in the cornfields between there and here.