How The Past 18 Months Allowed Us To Redesign Our Life

The last couple of years have been the hardest my generation has faced. Global pandemic. Racial tension. The craziest electoral season maybe ever in US history. There was a lot to mourn. A lot of loss. A lot of struggle. As someone quoted in an article I read recently “it’s like you look both ways to cross a busy street but end up getting hit by an airplane.”

It was a hard season for all of us in different ways. Looking back, for those of us making it out of the other end of the pandemic, we’ve used this season to re-evaluate what’s important. “The Great Resignation” is one signal of that. A lot of the world is looking to reset and it’s manifesting itself in different ways.

This post is a bit long but it’s a reflection of the last couple of years. Wrapping up this year, I wanted to look back how our family changed in this season.

Pro Tip: Don’t Buy and Sell A Home Early In a Pandemic If You Don’t Have To

Early in 2020, for a myriad of reasons, we decided we wanted to move to another home. We talked to our realtor, visited at least a dozen houses and finally found the one. We went under contract, preparing ourselves to have to sell our own home in a hurry to be able to purchase the new place.

One week later, COVID-19 was in the US and we were under shelter-in-place orders. We now had to sell a house when nobody was allowed to leave theirs.

Thankfully, everything worked out. I wouldn’t ever recommend trying to sell a house while working from home with two toddlers at home during a global pandemic. It’s miserable. But it’s doable. And, thanks to a stoic-like focus and a baller realtor, we made it work.

We chose a place in a good school district within walking distance of a lot of options. Our home is walkable to ice cream, a couple of coffee shops, restaurants, and a park. When you have to get kids out of the house with cabin fever but also kill time, being able to load the kids in a wagon and get takeout to a good variety of spots was a lifesaver.

Now that the kids are back in school, we are conveniently located within a mile of both of their buildings. And that leads to another thing the pandemic showed us: working from home.

Perks of Work From Home

Working from home with the kids at home is miserable. It’s probably not a lot of fun for them either. So that’s a life I don’t want to go back to.

BUT both of us working from home has been awesome. Megan and I trade mornings on who works out versus who gets the kids ready for school. Our commutes to take them to school are literally a couple of minutes. Megan and I have created little weekly rituals too like bagel Monday from Emerald City Bagels and champagne Fridays.

When Campbell had a Halloween parade at her school, instead of having to effectively take a half day to walk through my parking garage, drive across town, be at her school and then drive back to the office, I just had to block an hour. Megan and I were both able to go to her school and back without our coworkers really even noticing.

Another day when Ford’s class was going to a pumpkin patch up the road, I didn’t have to do any crazy gymnastics to be a parent chaperone. I effectively took an early lunch break, got to join him on a field trip, and be back at my house without missing a beat.

Because we aren’t having to commute, we have more time to get work done. We get work done early in the morning. We don’t have to block off another hour of the afternoon to run to various schools before closing. When the kids finally do get home for dinner, we are able to make that time totally about them without having a lot hanging over our heads. As a result, our nighttime work sessions are minimal.

Being More Locally Minded

During a pandemic, our social interactions were mostly limited to who was right around us. We spent a lot of time meeting people on front porches on our new street. Since our move last spring, we have spent more time being more intentional with spending money supporting local restaurants, frequenting farmer’s markets, using local vendors for various services and supporting charities that support people in our neighborhood.

Instead of trying to think bigger, we’ve focused a bit more about what’s right around us. And that’s been considerably more fulfilling.

Less Stuff. More Experiences. By Design.

Maybe it was the fact that we packed up all our possessions and moved into a smaller house during the pandemic.

Maybe it was because we were inside way more and had to look at stuff more often.

Maybe it was because for a while, we didn’t have the option to go out and about as freely as we once could (and can now).

In the last year and a half, we’ve prioritized doing things over buying things. Spending money on outings like museums, sporting events, shows, movie theater trips and random treats instead of toys. We intentionally moved into a smaller house to have less room for random stuff and to be more intentional with material things.

It’s been liberating. Way more fun. The kids won’t remember the random oddball toys we could be getting them (trust me…they have enough) but will remember their first Atlanta United game, seeing a Hawks practice, the Banksy exhibit at Underground or trips to the zoo and aquarium.

Looking Into The Future

The pandemic forced our family to redesign our life. Fortunately, we were blessed to be in a position to take the worldwide curve ball and use it to redesign our life for the better.

I realize that’s more of the exception than the rule.

We now have great work flexibility, have a plethora of options of places to take the kids within a few minutes of the house, more time margin to be involved with the kids’ schools and have a very active community of people who (for the most part) want to make our neighborhood a good family-accommodating place to live.

We’ve had more fun two year stretches. As a family. As a country. As a world. But I am optimistic that we can come out on the other side of all of it better than before. I have faith.

The pandemic turned life upside down for a lot of people. A lot of it for the negative. When you are faced with a set of circumstances beyond your control you have two choices: dwell on all of the negative or recognize what you do have control over and make the best of it. More often than not, I’m proud to say that (I believe) we chose the latter.

I’m proud of our little family.