I always laugh with her. I love venting with her. I love surprising her with gifts in the makeshift mailbox on the corner of that fence. I love when she treats me to an iced coffee or watches the kids for an hour so I can focus on a phone call for work. Even in the times when we’re sitting on my deck, sobbing and listening to emo music from our childhoods, I still walk away feeling lighter and better. We can do nothing or everything and it always feels like a relief.

My friend Nicole and I were inspired by Lauren Kirkham’s recent Hour by Hour project where she beautifully captured her family on an average day. Nicole and I have been working for weeks now and using our self-timers and phone alarms to get us in the photos more often and to capture more of the “in-between” moments. Lauren’s project was just what we needed to get out of our comfort zone and make it happen.

There really is no normalcy anymore; or, at least, it’s not the same as it was before the middle of March. By the time this blog will publish, it’ll be around 90 or more days of no school and bizarre work hours and having to keep distance from so many people that we love. But, it’s also been 90 or so days of becoming closer as a family and spending more time at a slower space and learning a lot about what we’re all capable of and what’s really important. 

In any other circumstances, LaShanta and I would probably never have met. She lives in Houston, Texas and I’m 1,400 miles away in Maryland. Our schedules and personalities can be completely different and, yet, she’s one of the most inspirational and important people to me.

Our daughter, Addison, celebrated her 8th birthday a couple of weeks ago. I can say now that it was a really special day for her and she felt so, so loved, but planning a kiddos’ birthday in the middle of a quarantine is a crazy thing. You want them to experience the “specialness” of a birthday but you’re so limited by what you can and can’t do.

I have belonged to a “club” now for more than 25 years. It’s a club where membership is based on loss. It is a club where the sisterhood or brotherhood in it means you share grief and anger on a repetitive, never-ending cycle. 

Nicole is my ‘gemela’, which is the Spanish word for ‘twin.’Two interesting facts that may better explain our nicknames:

1. We met in 2005 during a study abroad trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and;

2. We share the same birthday (I’m one year older)!

I’ve heard all of the excuses for moms not getting in the photos with their kids. Really. But, one day, they will look back on photos wishing for more photos with you in them — reminders of the memories and moments from their childhood.

If you’ve been following me for a bit, you may remember that at the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019, I had some unusual symptoms and “lady parts issues” that kept me from living a normal day-to-day life — I couldn’t work out, I had a lot of pain that kept me from going for my hikes and on adventures with my kiddos and I felt like I was missing out. I waited WAY too long on those symptoms and spent unnecessary months in agony.

I think there’s a few things every little kid needs as they’re growing up — confidence, companionship, support, knowledge and compassion.

Through Girl Scouts, we’re able to give our daughter all of those things (and more).