Author: Heidi Suydam
My top 2 bright sides of quarantine 2020, finding a silver lining during these stay at home days. It has not been easy but there really are some positive things to focus on.On a Sunday night in March we started to hear things about a possible government shutdown. It seemed unreal but for some reason it also felt like a real possibility. The very next day we received word that our daughter’s April 10th wedding venue cancelled. That week became a blur of dreamlike (or more like what the heck is going on…) existence combined with some of the most beautiful memories and moments we will treasure forever. We quickly packed up, rented a beautiful AirBNB in Franklin, TN and held an absolutely perfectly imperfect wedding for our daughter and our new son-in-law. All the details fell into place.
Nothing at all what we planned.
Still, filled with the sweetest moments. With Cracker Barrel Food, cake, champagne and an impromptu wedding DJ and master of ceremonies in the form of a dear friend (thank you Taylor!) of the Bride and Groom. The AirBnb was transformed into a Covid-compliant wedding venue (thank you Lindsay our AirBNB host who gave us special permission!) complete with fairy lights and dance floor compliments of one of my best friends who drove up from Florida the minute she heard this was happening. We appropriately call her fairy GodMother (thank you Judy!). She is magic along with her daughter - the Maid of Honor, who carried out so many details in a short amount of time (thank you Abby!). I relive the memories over and over. My daughter's wedding is a real bright side.Even though all of us who were there were feeling a lot of uncertainty about Covid-19, a little scared and all wondering what in the world is going to happen next in society - we were blessed with 48 hours to come together and celebrate this beautiful event. It was like someone pressed pause amongst the chaos just for a minute. As we returned home the whole world did seem to shut down and we began 8+ weeks of nothingness. Honestly I struggled. If I am completely honest, it has been hard mentally, emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually. I took a deep dive into depression, anxiety and have revisited an old frenemy named ED (eating disorder). When thinking about a bright side of this quarantine time the most obvious is our oldest daughter's wedding. The other Bright Side that tops the list - Time.The precious gift of time with our younger two girls. As we “gave away” one daughter and that is not patriarchal thinking in our family. The “giving away” is more of a letting go, it is the forming of a new family that is still attached to ours as family but is also their own family. It is growing and going away on a new level. As this happened we were gifted with time to spend with our two daughters who are still at home with us. Time is something I have chased for as long as I can remember.My silver lining, my bright side, from quarantine 2020 is simply time. Do you have a bright side of quarantine? As things slowly start to re-open and “life” gets back into swing, do you have a bright side you can share from the weeks of stay at home orders? Through this gift of time I also made some amazing connections with a group of midlife bloggers. We all decided to share our bright sides / silver linings of quarantine and agreed to take on this #brightsidechallenge ! Thank you friends for the inspiration to write this post! Check out their Blogs and Bright Sides here:
D'Arcy Vandenberg @ Dear D’Arcy
Gwen Gottlieb @ Gwen Lives Well Kim Cook @ For A Good Life After 50 Melanie Silkworth: Mel’s 2nd Act Merry Lynch @ Braving Midlife Michele Bellisari @ Soooo Boca Michele Linton @ Hot Flash and Sass Nancy Weiss @ A Two Drink Minimum Rosemary Davis: Distinctly Southern Style Please share your quarantine bright sides in the comments! You might also enjoy these posts on #thesosblog:
How to Create Social Share Links / Mindfulness /
Midlife Mommy Meltdown / 8 Ways to Blog Consistently
12 Comments
5/14/2020 12:28:32 pm
Heidi,
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5/14/2020 05:30:16 pm
Appreciate your transparency,Heidi. It really is surreal how fast it hit us and the way our lives changed so quickly. So glad your daughter was able to have her wedding and you are doing so much better. Time is a gift, for sure! Xx Melanie
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5/16/2020 12:09:44 am
Thanks so much for sharing your heart and your experience. I hope you continue to feel the amazing support you seem to have with these great women in our community. There is nothing better than women supporting women. I have found some days challenging. My husband is receiving treatment for colon cancer during the pandemic so this adds more anxiety. But all in all we are happy and grateful and we all still like each other ! Lol! My husband and I get to spend all this time with our 19 and 22 year old children. We will treasure this bonus together time forever.
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5/20/2020 05:18:31 pm
The wedding sounds like it was truly lovely! And will be an unforgettable story for years to come... What a bright spot in the midst of the madness. I'm a serious silver-lining girl, myself, so I've really appreciated the opportunity to pull back and assess what I want to do more of and less of as we move forward. That and I've managed to declutter about 6 years worth of files! That alone might be worth the past 12 weeks of Protective Posturing... (Such a better way to think than Lockdown!)
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5/24/2020 03:01:44 pm
I love this post Heidi! Such a great outlook! Happy to be apart of this with you!
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Heidi Suydam
7/31/2020 11:12:20 am
Thanks for reading, D'Arcy! I love doing collabs with you too.
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Rach
5/28/2020 10:04:07 am
This is such a lovely post! I think it’s so important to look on the bright side of things. One of my favourite things has been eating breakfast on the balcony at 11am when I’d usually be in work! Just little things I’ve enjoyed in my own home. Thank you for sharing!
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Heidi Suydam
7/31/2020 11:13:10 am
Rach! Thanks so much for reading. Eating breakfast on the balcony sounds lovely! I have been having lots of front porch sits.
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