Last March I was standing in my sons middle school gym talking with other parents of the boys & girls basketball teams. We just finished a friendly kids vs parents game. It was so much fun and the kids, coaches and adults truly laughed together until our sides hurt…or was that because none of the adults had run that much in over 20 years?! Little did we know that the world was about to change. We walked out of the gym high-fiving each other, because the adults won! (Thank you Coach Terry for being an amazing clutch player!) That is when the kids social media began to explode announcing that school was cancelled. We rolled our eyes and laughed assuming this was a short solution to make everyone feel better about the developing COVID situation in the US.
Fast forward 8 looooooooooooooong months…we are all feeling a little exhausted from months of COVID prevention, isolation and illnesses. Nevertheless, it is very important to know that we are NOT done! Worldwide new cases are spiking. I know that many of my friends think it is no big deal if kids get the virus, and I would agree if these kids were in a bubble. However, these kids are NOT in a bubble.

Here is our COVID-19 story (which is still developing)…Our teenage son(age 14) has been begging us for the last several months to hang with friends and walk around shopping areas and basically be social. We agreed and sent him off with a mask. We knew that groups were not the safest and that the kids may or may not follow the masks recommendations, but we crossed our fingers and said yes anyway. It took only a few gatherings for COVID to hit. It only takes one person. Many teens and kids seem asymptomatic for the most part, so they do not know they are carrying the virus. That is how my oldest passed the virus to my youngest (age 11). Thankfully, we are still a few weeks away from Thanksgiving. That is when the boys 75+ year old grandparents are planning to visit for a few days.
One Person…it only takes One Person to get other sick! Masks are not mandatory, but they should be! Masks should be worn because they are the kind and moral thing to do for others. It is the proven way for the One Person to not spread the virus to others. COVID sucks and I pray that the virus stopped in our home! I don’t blame my son or the people he was hanging with when he caught the virus. You can’t blame anyone for the spread of a virus, but we can do things to stop the spread. We can Hope!
I Hope that you never get COVID
I Hope that if you do catch the virus that you have mild or no symptoms
I Hope that you never have to wear a mask around your family in your own home
I Hope that you don’t have to diligently clean, disinfect and mask trying to stop the virus from spreading
I Hope that you NEVER have to stand across the room from your children with tears in your eyes wishing them Goodnight without a hug and a kiss
I Hope that you don’t lay in your bed at night praying that your kids are the patients with mild to no symptoms
I Hope that you don’t sit across the room as your kid sleeps praying that he starts to feel better when he wakes
I Hope that you never have to quarantine yourself in the effort to not catch the virus from your family
I Hope that I get to snuggle and kiss my family again soon
I Hope that we will take this virus seriously and do our part as kind humans
I Hope that people will wear masks and socially distance
I have HOPE that we can stop this virus from spreading
I HOPE…
