Items
Tag is exactly
quality time
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2021
At Home
The pandemic had caused us all to stay home, families were all living all day everyday together. For me this meant that I was spending more time with them, more than usual. Before the pandemic had started, my family ran on the same routine everyday, me and my siblings would go off to school, my mom is a stay at home mom so she would spend her time taking care of the house, and my dad would go off to work, he has his own construction business. The only time we were really home together as a family would be the hours my dad would be off of work from after around 7pm. When I was younger he would work many more hours, sometimes as long as 5am-8pm but the point is, he was barely ever home but to spend an hour or two with us and then he would sleep. I did have a good relationship with my dad and so many memories as well but the quality time wasn't really there. It is not like he didn't want to be around but it was that he wanted to work more while he was younger so that he could invest into his retirement and save up more while he can. Once the pandemic started, he was home with us much more. Of course this came with both pros and cons, such as having that quality time with him, but it also meant that there were much more disagreements since we were all together all day everyday. One of my favorite memories from those days were when we had ordered a whole lot of board games and jenga blocks to keep my younger brother entertained (and off of electronics as much as possible). My dad loves to bring in his construction wherever and whenever he can. He would take my brother's jenga blocks and make buildings with it and show off how he so thoughtfully made it so that it can actually hold weight and its not just good looking. The pandemic changed my dad's relevancy. Once lockdown was over, and he was back at work, he started working less hours making sure he would be home by 5pm or 6pm at most and he would spend his evenings with us again. The pandemic changed my life in many ways but my dad is always the first person I think of when I remember those days. He truly does try to stay as relevant in our lives as he can even when he is tired and it's great seeing the effort he puts in. -
2022-03-21
Logistics in the COVID Era
Logistics and Transportation have seen dramatic changes since the beginning of the pandemic, and as such, my life has drastically changed as well. When the pandemic started, I worked for a trucking company that had grown into a major corporation. With all of the uncertainty in the world, I decided to bet on myself and leave that job to start my own company. This is how my life has changed since then, and what a typical day in my world looks like now, which is much different than it looked at the beginning of 2020. I wake up at 6 am and grab my laptop, I then log in to my load boards and post the loads I have to work on for the day. 90% of my business is done over email, so I am able to get my work started before I even start to get ready for the day. I then have time to talk with my wife as we get ready, answering emails as we go. When 8 am rolls around, I wake up my two sons, ages 8 and 1. We have family time in the morning, eating breakfast and watching the news before my wife heads off to her Law School. I then take my boys to their respective schools and drop them off for the day. At this point, if I have any errands to run I usually try to knock those out. I then head home and start bidding on new loads for the days to come. And since most of my work is done over email, I am able to knock any household chores out that need to be done for the day. When lunch rolls around I like to meet my wife for a quick bite some days, and other days I eat a simple lunch at home. I am usually able to wrap up most of my business by 3:30 pm and head to pick up my 1-year-old son from his school. When we get back home, we meet my 8-year-old son as he is getting off the school bus around 4:15. We have some father/sons time, and my wife usually arrives back home around 5:30 pm. Once we have dinner, I then get to work on whatever schoolwork or reading I need to do, and then a little more family time before bed. Since the pandemic forced/allowed me to take on this new opportunity, I am able to see my family much more than I did when I was spending 50+ hours per week in an office, with another 5 hours spent commuting. The pandemic has been awful for a lot of reasons, but as a silver lining, I hope that we have learned how to be more efficient with our time and to realize that the bulk of our waking hours do not necessarily need to be spent in an office when we can accomplish the same amount or more remotely, while greatly increasing our mental health. -
2020-05
Waiting to be Connected
I moved out of New York City for a month in the spring of 2020 during the period where my gallery furloughed most employees aside from the principal directors and a select number of sales people. I spent that time with my father in upstate New York in a close quarters quarantine. I was always struck by the quiet during the day and how visible and bright the stars were at night. Two things that seemed foreign to me at times as I grew up in cities and had lived in various Brooklyn neighborhoods for the past year. The passing sound of car stereos and people’s voices on fire escapes from a floor above were white noise. All vibrant - completely alive - no stars. His apartment was a studio and at the time he had not yet begun paying for internet service. Some nights we would drive four or so minutes down the road to the apartment complex where my Dad used to live a few years prior. We would camp outside the complex’s gym which housed one or two treadmills and the outside looked like a glorified garage - but it had wifi. As we were no longer residents and owners of a key pass to the facility, my Dad would pull up to the side entrance and put on his hazards. I would jump out and begin to search for a signal and attempt to connect to the complimentary internet. Whenever a stray person would emerge from their units to retrieve Amazon packages from their front stoop, I would make uncomfortable eye contact with them, as I held up my phone. Yes, yes, this is what you think it is. They hastened back up and quickly closed their door behind them. I found that the most expedient way of downloading content was to position myself by the exterior front left corner and stand with my back flush against the wall. Every night my Dad and I listened to podcasts and drank tea. Despite everything, moments like these helped us laugh and I look back at this memory fondly. -
2021-03-10
#JOTPYSilver from mszneyugn
#jotpysilver my silver lining was that this pandemic has taught me how little I actually need to be happy. It all came down to knowing that family was safe, having quality time, and learning to appreciate the simplicities in life. It’s taught me a different level of empathy and patience that I didn’t know I needed. -
2021-03-09
#JOTPYSilver from Michelle Wilson
chellenguyenwilson #jotpysilver my silver linings...helping the environment by commuting less since we both work from home! Speaking quality time with hubby and making no excuses for our house projects! 🌿 -
2021-03-09
#JOTPYSilver from Christine
christinejwong #jotpysilver I’m grateful I got to spend more time with my kids that wouldn’t haven been possible if I was going into the office 5 days a week. -
2020-04-17
Humans of Covid-19 AU: Alissa
“I’m feeling the totality of the experience, the lack of any space or any break whatsoever. It leaks into every aspect of life, every minute of every day. This has definitely been a challenge. Being ‘forced’ to have quality time with my kids, actual quality time, is the best part. I’m loving the slowing down - no more rushing or hurrying the kids. Even on relaxed weekends, we were always pushing ourselves: try the latest cafe; take the kids to a new park; see friends we hadn’t seen for a while. Now there’s a stillness to things and reality is making my partner and me more present with the kids, and they’re loving it - for now! Apart from when it comes to the phone… that’s almost become a source of evil, with too much going on. I’m trying to put it aside when I can.” Instagram post on Alissa, a teacher, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives.