Is 2022 Over Yet?

Is it just me, or did the last 2 months feel like a year? How is it still only February of 2022?

If you have children under 5, chances are your life has NOT gone back to anything even remotely close to a pre-covid place. It feels like society at large has moved on and completely forgotten about us, the parents of young kids. Whereas older children can largely wear masks, toddlers can't, and around where we live (Massachusetts), that means that most of our activities are still cancelled. Either that, or they proceed with huge changes that completely affect the purpose of the activity itself, and then every other class is cancelled due to exposures. And that 10 day quarantine's a killer.

There was nothing in my parenting books about how to handle a 10 day quarantine with 2 toddlers.

As a side note, I'm not here to preach or convince anyone about what you should or shouldn't do with your family. Personally, I wear a mask and got vaccinated because science, and also because I want to do my part to help protect the more vulnerable populations. We avoid restaurants, concerts, and basically any large gathering. Two years in, though, I'm wondering... is this just what life is going to be like forever? You have a baby and society at large just says, "Great, we'll see you in 5 years, good luck handling this on your own!"? I understand the reality of the situation: toddlers spread diseases. Isolation saves lives. But at what cost?

My daughter is now the same age that my son was when the pandemic began: 20 months old. He will never remember the first 20 months of his life, but I hold them so unbelievably dearly in my heart. Bringing him to a cafe and people watching while people fawned over him. Music classes and play groups with our friends. Restaurants. Parties with our extended families, many of whom we haven't seen in person in 2 years. Going to the gym and meeting other moms. Going to the movies. The salad bar at Whole Foods. The list goes on and on. All gone, possibly forever.

Our lives will never be the same. This was a huge loss. I'm sure your life is totally different now too, even if you became a parent during the pandemic. Anyway, all this to say, I'm here if you need to vent. If you're still reading my rambling diatribe, then leave a comment with your story- I'd love to meet you.