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A Small Win

The idea of starting a third whole week of this isolated lifestyle is suffocating, as I'm sure you agree.

Fortunately I have a little bit of good news. We were keeping tabs on my brother-in-law's progress through his unknown illness since he revealed it to us, and based on his description of the symptoms and his incredibly quick recovery we've determined–insofar as we can without being medical professionals–that he had a mundane cold or flu and not COVID-19.

Not only is that good for him and my partner's parents, but it meant there was once again the option of our family seeing them on the regular again.

After talking about it and discussing the pros and cons yet again, my partner and I have decided to resume taking our child to her grandparents' house for the mornings of the workweek. We have no idea how long this pandemic and resulting isolation is going to last, but we're going to take advantage of what little luxuries we feel comfortable with for as long as we feel safe in doing so.

This was not an easy decision and definitely not one we took lightly. We know that we increase our family's risk of infection by coming into contact with anyone outside of our house. However, we also know that mental health is important in these trying times, and this small act does wonders for the mental health of everyone involved. We are still washing hands, disinfecting everything, and keeping physical contact with no more than five people total, as advised by our government.

My partner decided to surprise her parents with the news by dropping by their house for a visit with the grandchild they've missed so dearly. Needless to say they were delighted by the surprise.

That said, I think my partner and I were adapting pretty well to parenting while working, and I for one have been very happy to get to spend more time with my daughter, since I otherwise work full-time and don't get much quality time with her during the weekdays. We started to figure out a routine where we could each comfortably get our work done while caring for our little one, which will of course come in handy should we feel the need to revert back to that lifestyle someday again.


For now, though, we'll take this small win in a world that could really use some.

Stay healthy and sane.
-Ryan
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