D is for Daughter #AtoZChallenge

My daughter is here with me during this COVID-19 crisis, and I could not be more grateful.

Regular readers of the blog may remember that my daughter started a study abroad program in Japan this past September (2019). The plan was for her to do a year-long program, but decided that it would be better for her to take the semester option. So after the winter break, she didn’t return to Japan.

She was unable to return to her university (she goes to school in another state) for the spring semester because of the way reporting happens for financial aid related to study abroad.

Her next idea was to sign up for a program in Greece that started March 2, 2020. For reasons outside of her control, that also didn’t happen.

So she is here, in California, with me and has been since all of this *waves hands* started.

• She was not in Japan.
• She was not in Greece.
• She was not even in that other state.

She was already here, safe.

It’s wild, too, because my college moved to remote teaching the week of my daughter’s 21st birthday. That Monday, we went out to dinner and we went to the movies. We can’t do either of those things anymore, and that was just three short weeks ago, though it feels like a lifetime.

Of course, it was another way of living back then.

Sharing space with my daughter is often like living alone. For the first two weeks, we were pretty much on opposite schedules since she is a die-hard night owl, and I am a recovered night owl (because of The Man with his foot on my neck, not through any real effort on my part).

But it is also NOT like living alone because we are here, together, sharing this relatively small space. So, there have been some adjustments, and we’re working through them–mostly gracefully.

Still, small squabbles when one of us is hangry or feeling a little trapped mean nothing to me in the grand scheme of things. If she weren’t here, I would have been worrying about how to get her here. If she weren’t here, I would be concerned about her safety. Because she’s here, I know that she’s okay. And that helps me cope with almost all of the other uncertainty in the world.

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I have decided that I’m going to focus on my survival/coping strategies while practicing social distancing. What are the things that make it bearable? What helps alleviate my stress and fear–or at least what distracts me from both? Tune in tomorrow to see what I have chosen for E!

Also, my friend Sindia has decided to join the challenge, and she’s new to blogging. If you have a moment, please pop over to her blog and check out her posts!

Note: I am slightly off the schedule because I was out of commission on Friday due to a migraine. I hope to get back on schedule with my entry for E.