What have you learned from the coronavirus pandemic? It's obviously reminded all of us about the importance of family and kindness and so many other things, and one of the things I'm taking away from all of this is the value of living in the moment.

I'm a planner and a list-maker and I pretty much always have a countdown widget on my phone for something, whether it's a vacation, or the first or last day of school, or someone's birthday. I love having something to look forward to, and I tend to spend a little too much time thinking about the future and not enough time just enjoying the present. But now, with our summer vacation canceled and even next year's east coast trip in question, and no definite dates for things to look forward to this year, I've been forced to just enjoy the day we're in and I'm really thankful for that lesson.

With the kids out of school, Daniel temporarily off work, and my business forced to temporarily close due to the governor's stay at home order, all 6 of us were home together all day, every day, and honestly it was pretty great. Some days were better than others, and it definitely would have been more enjoyable without having to deal with e-learning for the kids, and there were definitely times that I just wanted a quiet house to myself for a while, but I actually really loved this time together. We played games, we cooked, we watched way too many movies (including all of the MCU movies in order), we did some work around the house (cleaning, painting, planting, yard work), we played in the creek, and we did a lot of hiking at various state parks and nature preserves.

I obviously hate the reason we were all home, but I really did love the time together. I'm so glad things are starting to get back to normal, but I'm kind of going to miss this!