Tag: Working Moms

Some Upsides of Social Distancing, Part I

- Alexis Leave a comment
Black and white photo of a toddler walking up stairs in a hillside

Here in my relatively isolated part of Tennessee, I’ve been doing the social distancing thing for about four weeks now. While my daily life has shifted drastically, I’m very lucky that I continue to have a steady salary, have not contracted the coronavirus, and have not lost any loved ones to COVID-19. I acknowledge that I write this post from a place of significant privilege, and my heart goes out to the many, many people who are suffering terribly because of the pandemic.

For the fortunate folks like myself, I think it helps to look on the bright side as much as possible. Adapting to this new (temporary) normal was challenging, and several weeks ago, I felt a lot of fear and anxiety. But I’ve settled into my current way of life, and it’s really not so bad. There are things that I miss, of course, but there are also significant secondary benefits to social distancing. In this series of posts, I’ll highlight some of the good things, as I see them. (I’m taking these a few at a time because finding the quiet time and focused energy to write long blog posts is is difficult now that I’m working from home with a toddler.)

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My Kid is Wearing a Store-Bought Halloween Costume, and I’m 100% OK With That

- Alexis 2 Comments
Giraffe costume in plastic bag and plastic pumpkin bucket on a chair

There’s a scene in Season 3 of the CBC show Workin’ Moms where PR executive Kate’s lawyer husband Nathan agrees to shift his schedule to take care of their toddler son while Kate flies to another city to make a last-minute pitch to a client. The trade-off, Nathan tells Kate, is that she has to take care of the child’s costume for the preschool Halloween recital, which Nathan had previously agreed to handle. Discussing all this on the phone, Nathan says to Kate, “You’re not going to buy him one of those costumes-in-a-bag, are you?” To which Kate responds, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, “What kind of mother do you think I am?” She ends up trying to fashion a costume from a hotel pillowcase and toilet paper rolls in the wee morning hours before catching her flight back home. She arrives at the recital late and interrupts the event to run across the stage and place the ridiculous-looking costume over the head of her son, who is already sitting on the stage among his creatively costumed peers.

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