How We Made It Through the Pandemic

Tragic Sandwich

First up: The pandemic is not over. It’s not even the only viral problem out there.

That said, I’ve had a post with this title in mind for at least two years. Not everything that I was going to write then is still applicable now, but a lot of it is.

It’s hard to know what and how to write about at this point. The shutdown in March 2020 was so incredibly hard on Baguette, as every element of her routine was thrashed and trashed, and the (as it turns out, pointless) closure of parks and beaches and zoos and pools meant that all of the places we would normally go to help her recalibrate were off-limits.

It was bad.

She worked so hard, and we are so proud of her. She did not care for online school at all, but her love of school is so strong that she tried anyhow. Her 1:1 classroom aide and I spent the spring of 2020 just getting her used to the idea of Zoom, which she hated. She still hates it. But by that fall, she could push through to see her teacher and classmates and participate in lessons.

We had the help first of a retired special education teacher and then of a phenomenal woman who came in to support her through the school day and help her navigate computer systems and apps and activities.

We had car rides and walks to nowhere that at least offered a change of scene.

We had visual schedules, for the day as a whole and for school.

We had Rudy.

We had the swing in our neighbor’s front yard, which was the only swing she could use without driving to a different county.

We had Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, which Baguette watched every single day for over a year. For Halloween 2020, she trick-or-treated as Belle. The morning of Baguette’s 11th birthday in 2021, her aide–the phenomenal woman mentioned above–arrived bearing an enormous Beauty and the Beast cake (I pushed my basic grocery store cake to the back of the refrigerator, because it was not worthy).

We had splash pools and slip-n-slides, which were the only way she could get any water time until the summer of 2021.

It was not enough.

We are still traumatized, all of us. (Well, not Rudy.) Baguette has been back at school in person since the spring of 2021, but the inadequacy of that online learning is still affecting her.

It is still bad.

The parks and beaches and pools are open again–but that period was so damaging. It’s going to take much longer to recover from than it did to experience.

But at least there’s Rudy.

  • girl with brown hair wearing dark blue shirt, green leggings, and rain boots walking away from camera
  • handwritten sequence of activities written on whiteboard with date of April 8, 2020
  • brown dog in what looks like a contorted position on seat of armchair
  • blurry photo of girl with brown hair, yellow shirt, and blue leggings on swing, at sunset
  • screenshot of Belle in village, holding book and basket while villagers look at her in the background
  • girl with brown hair tied with blue ribbon trick-or-treating while wearing white shirt, sleeveless blue dress, white apron, and black shoes
  • elaborate yellow cake with red frosting flowers and two #1 candles surrounded by cupcakes topped with images from Beauty and the Beast in fondant
  • girl with brown hair in blue and white tankini standing in splash pad on lawn

4 thoughts on “How We Made It Through the Pandemic”

  1. Oh this post made my heart break and sing at the same time. The shutdown was really hard on my younger daughter too- not as hard as for baguette, but hard. And it was so hard to figure out how to help her through it, as I am sure it was for you. But we made it through and do did you and I wish there was someone to applaud and recognize the effort… but there isn’t. Thanks so much for writing this and I am here applauding you and baguette.

  2. I applaud your acknowledgement of how much it sucked along with the celebrations of milestones along the way. That seems appropriate. I do wonder what the long-term repercussions are going to be on all of us overall from a social and learning standpoint, but I know I’m trying to take each day as it comes. Definitely not an easy period here either with my husband’s death and my child’s issues. Hugs to you and glad to see a post.

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