We suffered loss in ways we never thought. We had to pause, reflect, mourn, and grow. It was a lot. The take away was to always have the cake and eat it, too, BUT remember to rest. When we GO GO GO I burn out. Then the going isn't as fun. So we tried something new this winter. We hibernated.
We intentionally cleared a 4-5 week stretch on our weekend calendar. No bands, no big dinners or parties, no festivals or pub crawls. It was a fire in the fireplace, maybe a sleepover, and good food with games and movies. We ignored the need to scroll and see what everyone was up to. We hunkered down and enjoyed each other.
We needed that. Our kid even noticed and enjoyed that. We didn't say no to everything! She still got Parent Night Out, sleepovers, practice, school events, etc. But Saturdays and Sundays were reserved for home. She found solice snuggling in a Snuggie Friday nights with the dog. She enjoyed heading to the gym and indoor farmer's market Saturday mornings.
We all made it work. The hibernation phase is officially unlocked. We are back to some fun! We have the big D.C. trip under our belt and now we can wait for the weather to warm up for the fun things that brings. No one missed out. No one was deprived. We just paused and reset to learn to enjoy all things, big and small, enjoy each other and just be grateful.
