The Rocc Flock: The Pendulum Swing - COVID-19 Continues....

Thankfully the weather has finally started to feel more like spring. Feeling the sun on our skin and hearing the birds chirping has definitely helped the Rocc Flock feel a bit better over the last few weeks. Things surrounding the pandemic continue to be scary and uncertain. Some states are reopening amidst reports saying it's happening too soon. We are left with thoughts of was all of this really needed or is the worse still to come?

The title of this post comes from something my mother used to say; "Things always happen on a pendulum swing." I have gone through a crazy span of emotions since March 16th and I found myself thinking about my mother a lot...sometimes the bad stuff but mostly the good stuff. I was thinking about her the other morning while I was out walking and it got me thinking about this wise saying in regards to me.

The aspect of my life that I was thinking about on the pendulum swing was my interaction with technology - specifically my cell phone. I didn't get my first cell phone until I was 19 years old. I was a sophomore at Penn State and my dad got me a phone -- one of those flip phones that you could pull the antennae out of the top. I was VERY cutting edge.

I eventually got a Nokia (which remains my FAVORITE phone to date) and playing Snake on my phone was a favorite past time. I withstood getting a smart phone for many years but finally caved in when the twins were born because I wanted to have it for a camera.

I will admit I have become addicted to my phone. I obviously enjoy social media...I love taking pictures...I love using Boomerang and other fun apps. But I have gotten pretty bad at being attached to it and specifically using it to continuously check my email. The feeling that I was missing something was quite overpowering.

Now that all of our educational encounters are happening over a screen, I have found I am SICK TO DEATH OF SCREENS. The twins' teachers and school continues to do a remarkable job in the face of this very challenging time - the twins utilize SeeSaw on their school issued iPads. Zoom continues to be a pretty amazing tool to connect teachers and students. We understand we are very lucky to have this technology available to our 2nd graders and are very grateful for it. We are keeping up with the assignments and the twins are hanging in there -- but we all sorely miss face-to-face interactions and socialization.

Back to the pendulum swing....I decided to remove my email from my cell phone...social media is now placed on the very last screen....and wow, this is SO freeing. Not gonna lie -- it was rough the first few days....but now it's amazing how much TIME and SPACE in my brain has been opened up for other things. I have found myself noticing things that I was missing during the last two months and maybe the last several years. The pendulum swing is making me remember things we did as kids in the 80s and 90s -- and laughing about these memories with the Rocc Flock has become a fun past time.

First off, the BIRDS! I don't know if it's because there is less human activity or if it's because we're home all day but the number of beautiful birds we see is wonderful. There's one in particular who sings a lovely song each morning. I've never been into birdwatching but perhaps I'll try to figure out what kind of bird this is!

And the SNAKES!!! What is up with this one? We have seen more snakes during this pandemic than ever before...not too happy about this one.

I have used my phone as an actual PHONE more in the last few months than I have in years. Even the act of texting is too much for me - it's funny but texting just takes up too much time! I find calling friends and hearing their voices to be so refreshing. I can remember my mother sitting at the kitchen table for what I thought was hours talking to friends. I can remember myself talking to friends over the phone as a kid and teenager -- and it is so nice that the pendulum swing has swung back to allow myself the time to call people and chat for a bit!

As we begin to transition into the summer months, I'm hoping to stay away from screens for at least the next 4 weeks. I am nervous for the fall...I am nervous for my career as a choral director during this time....I know there's a lot of work to be done in the future - but for now, I'm going to revert back to life before smart phones!

A few pictures to record....that YES, I took with my smart phone!

Daddy's Gym has been seeing increased use over the last few months!

We continue to hike and escape to nature when we can.

Still loving our secret ponds...

The twins both asked to sketch one day....

I've been working on this coloring page!

I usually like to take the twins one at a time on our runs to the secret ponds....but this day the three of us went together. It was nice to give Daddy (who has been AMAZING through all of this) a much needed break while we were out and about....

I did have a lovely birthday weekend. The festivities started on Saturday when some of my students (past and present!) surprised me with a birthday parade. This is an idea that was born because of the social distancing guidelines we are all under. Since we cannot have gatherings or parties, people have started doing drive-by parades for people to commemorate their birthdays or other special events. I had told Michael that I didn't really want a birthday parade (I thought it would make me too sad -- instead of driving by my house, I'd want you to pull into the driveway and come INTO my house!) but this birthday parade was pretty special. I know there are videos out there capturing me going into the ugly cry....luckily those videos haven't surfaced on social media yet.

We've been visiting our neighbor's beautiful pond to do some fishing and relaxing!

No filter!

The fishing is perfect for soon to be 8-year olds!

Allie and I did some chalk artwork at the pond.

Cam caught a frog!

We've been trying to get 20 minutes of reading in a day...sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't!

Celebrated Oscar Mayer's "Front-Yard Cook-Out" with our neighbors...which also happened to line up with my bday weekend!

Playing in the road is a fun time now....

Back to the pond for my actual birthday!

Can you see Michael??

We broke the raft out and hauled it across the woods for it's maiden voyage of Spring 2020. The twins gave me a lovely, relaxing ride around the pond.

Cameron has dubbed this stuff "pig skin"! HA!

Cam took Daddy for a spin.

Did some fishing from the raft...

At one point, we raced back through the woods to meet my friend, Erin and her daughter who wanted to deliver me a special birthday song and this lovely driveway artwork and card. Such a special memory!

We ended the weekend with a lovely dinner at Gammy and Poppy's house.

Flint Hill Farm allows visitors to come and see the animals. The twins have been going to Farm Camp there for the past several years so it was VERY nice to visit someplace familiar and fun!

How cool is this bird???!

Ah, the pendulum swing and playing in the woods....Mike and I have been reminiscing with the twins how when we were kids, we would play for hours in the woods. I had the added fun (and danger!) of being able to zip around on 4-wheelers with my friends. I cannot believe our mothers would let us venture off for hours with NO CELL PHONES....and we all survived. It is SO refreshing to be out in the woods again!

We spent almost an hour doing cool jumps over this log. YES I used the smart phone to capture these pictures...but we laughed and laughed when we checked out our pictures afterwards!