I have been accused of having no compassion, plus a lack of understanding.
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Eyes have been rolled at me, I have been ignored and insulted and utterly taken for granted. There have been tears, angry words, snippy back-chat, open criticism, stomping off and, sadly, the day is still young.
No, I'm not a health care professional or a supermarket employee, I'm in one of those other "at-risk" categories during these trying times - I'm a mother of teenagers trapped at home.
Yes, the people sharing this fabulous behavior with me, are my very own precious daughters. I'm in lock-down with three teens and I'm hoping we all come out of this still speaking to one another.
It's heartening to have my family keeping each other company, although we have come close to fisticuffs about which movie we're going to watch in the evening and at what time the telly goes off so we can get some sleep.
Meal time is all day long, with a staggered breakfast as each teen staggers in, lunch soon afterwards and constant snacking until I try to wrangle everyone around one table to eat an evening meal together. Amazingly, supper then continues into the night, led by the biggest culprit of all, the head of the household. Thank goodness the supermarket is still open.
How am I keeping up my spirits? With God's help all things are possible.
It's heartening to have my family keeping each other company, although we have come close to fisticuffs about which movie we're going to watch in the evening and at what time the telly goes off so we can get some sleep.
I attended my third online church service on Sunday morning. Kicking back in my lounge room, I enjoyed tea and toast for my communion meal. But I'm already planning coffee and cake for next weekend, or milk and museli maybe? With the behaviour my teens are exhibiting, the wine is actually looking pretty good - even at 10am.
Luckily, my girls are old enough to entertain themselves most of the time, and they do still give me enough hugs and kisses to survive on. We are able to enjoy a good laugh regularly and chat constantly.
We're just sick and tired of smoothing off each other's rough edges, I suppose.
My husband has wisely been social distancing himself from us with extended jogs each evening. Long bike rides are my go-to mental health tonic.
Thank goodness we live in a large house.
