So it’s been a whole 7 months since I last posted, and yet it feels more like 7 weeks and also 7 years. That’s a classic 2020 joke for you, about how time just isn’t a thing anymore. (The best jokes are the ones you have to explain.) Like many of you, I had grand visions of what my 2020 was going to look like. Well, maybe not grand, but I thought that I would at least write a blog post every month or two. So much for my dreams of becoming a momfluencer blogger. 

I did however follow my own rule of never wearing sweatpants outside. Sure I only showered once every 3 (or 4) days, but I made a promise to myself that when I go outside to the playground, or on our evening walk, or go to the grocery store, I will not wear sweatpants. Not that there’s anything wrong with wearing sweatpants outside, I just didn’t want that for myself. I mostly wore yoga pants, as they are twice removed from sweatpants in that they are form-fitting and shape-holding. Only on a long road trip to San Diego did I allow myself to wear loose non-sweatpants loungey joggers out of the house because they are super comfy but don’t squeeze my belly like yoga pants. And it wasn’t until October when I wore jeans again for the first time since March.

Now, let me catch you up on the past 7+ months over the next few posts.

I went back to work at the beginning of March and worked from the office a couple of times a week for two weeks. It was so great to see my colleagues in person again! Then San Francisco put the shelter-in-place ordinance into effect and I worked from home for two weeks. By that time, it was clear that my company – in the commercial real estate industry – was going to be negatively and significantly impacted by COVID. With most of the office population relegated to working from home, many of our clients were pulling out of their leases with us. And so, there was a large round of layoffs that included me and my position. While I absolutely loved my job, my team, my boss, and the whole SF office crew, it turned out to be for the best because Bill and I had not yet figured out our long-term childcare solution for when we would both be working all day. And that’s how I became a stay at home mom. I want to make sure we all use the correct language here and that we are all clear on not equating “full time mom” as only limited to “stay at home mom”. All moms are full time moms. Some full time moms also have other full time jobs too, like ones that pay them. 

I love this for me right now: being a stay at home mom. Much of what is so great about it is that Bill works from home and our small family is together all day every day. We can have lunch together, or he can pop out of his office to read a picture book, or sing a song, or change a diaper, or give a quick hug, and it is absolutely wonderful. We truly are very lucky and our privilege does not go unrecognized. We are a white, upper middle class, cisgender hetero couple, and as the events of the past year (and quite frankly the entire history of our country) have made clear, the systems were built for people like us (and more specifically, my husband, as I am an immigrant and a woman) to be just fine. I’m not naïve enough to think that if Georgia goes our way come January, then all will be fixed. But with Joe and Kamala, we are on a great path forward, not only to undo the damage of the last four years (though there is no way to undo the 340,553 American deaths from COVID-19 as the data shows today), but to truly build back better in the hopes that America will one day actually be great for everyone who lives here. 

I write this on the day that my dad, a medical physicist at a prestigious NYC hospital, received his first of two COVID-19 vaccine shots. I am so hopeful for the future, and eager for 2021 to be here already. But not without first celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary tomorrow!