Groundhog Day

Here it is… Groundhog Day… for real this time. 

The last two weeks my kids were home from school with a cough. We did test after test, and each came back negative for COVID. A blessing, and yet, it felt the same as when we had COVID last January.  

I just kept saying, “Here we are. It’s GROUNDHOG DAY AGAIN!” So much of the past two years has felt like Groundhog Day. I’m talking Bill Murray re-living the same day over and over again… AND ALSO… like a large rodent peeking our heads out of burrows to see if it is safe to come out, or if we should just hunker down for the longest winter of our lives. 

Having the kids home sick again for the busy start to the year felt like waking up to the same torturous mess. I started to spiral. I was grumpy and reactive but trying to be loving and gentle with the people in my house. I love these people so much, but still… “CAN YOU PLEASE COUGH A LITTLE SOFTER?? MOMMY IS TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!!” You know?  

This is so hard. This is so hard in so many ways. As a parent it has been excruciating to try our best to keep our kids safe while balancing work and life stress and the gauntlet of challenges that just never seem to end. Not to mention what our friends and family that work in healthcare or our teachers and school administrators are going through.  This is so hard on everyone, grocery store workers and delivery drivers, service industry professionals that have been put through the wringer and are watching the industry crumble. This is so hard on people who can’t find a place to live in the current rent market, this is so, so hard on people who lost loved ones or had to postpone care. This is so hard on families. This is so hard on people without families. This is all so hard. 

And we are lucky. No really. It doesn’t feel like it… but…

We are still here. 

We have the chance to see what is around the corner.

We are living in a time that is forcing change. We are collectively being forced into situations that we never thought possible and we are adapting. We are changing. 

This week, the coughs were gone and we got to go to soccer practice. Kids were playing outside, giggling and learning a new sport (mostly doing spins and flips in the grass, but also a little soccer), siblings of kids practicing were doing cartwheels. Moms and Dads were getting some exercise. My parents were out kicking the ball with the kids. It felt so normal.

The thing about the movie Groundhog Day (and its amazing Christmas movie derivative THE 12 DATES OF CHRISTMAS) is that they don’t get out of the day until they change. They don’t get to escape the monotony until they embrace themselves and their community, until they help others, until they see and create joy. JOY! Until they accept their circumstances. 

So maybe we should make some choices this Groundhog’s Day. How do we adapt? What do we do differently this year knowing what we know, having been through what we’ve been through? What can we do to embrace community? What can we do to embrace and accept ourselves? What can we do to see or create joy? 

Because even when it feels like we can’t leave our burrow, and it is cold and dreary outside, maybe putting on a little suit and top hat will give us the courage to stick our heads out and see what is next. And maybe that tradition will will make some people smile, and there will be a ripple into Spring when it arrives. 

Hang in there. I know it is hard, but with a little attention in the right places, we can start to climb out of this really really really really really really looooooooooooooooooooong day. 

You are loved 💜

Allison Dragony