Franglo

October, how is it that we are already in the back half of this crazy year? 

I don’t think any of us could have anticipated what 2020 would hold when we rang in the new year. I have been notable absent this year; like many of you I have been trying to adjust to life in the face of a pandemic. 

The year started with great promise, I was adjusting to living in Montreal full time, only commuting back and forth to Ottawa as needed. I took a purposeful break from French class to give myself a break from a super hectic lifestyle, I wanted to relax a bit more and focus on my job and my family.

March 13th, I still remember the last day in the office.  It was a bizarre day, the announcement had been made that the kids would be taking a break from school for a few weeks to help combat the virus. The office was quiet, only a few people decided to make the commute in. This situation was only supposed to last a few weeks after all. 

On this day, we had high winds in Montreal, which caused large scale power outages in the region. Our electric train to the West Island was not able to get us home, at a normal hour.  My husband and I took this opportunity to spend some quality time together, a cocktail downtown in a new patio space, followed by dinner at a new food court style dinning with high end restaurants called Time Out. We were felt fortunate to be able to try this experience without having to wait in long line ups. 

Fast forward to August, I had taken a week off from work and decided to go downtown to grab a few things from my locker at work, this same experience was depressing. Only a few of the restaurants were open and most of the downtown core had shuttered. The city has lost its identity on the backdrop of this disease, it was so very sad. It was not until I had left my suburbia bubble, that you truly understand the tool on the economy. 

I am extremely fortunate, I work in the telecommunications industry and I have been extremely busy throughout the pandemic, it is what has help keep me sane. I have been working at home safely since March and there are no plans at this point to return. I know I am blessed that we are not worrying how to make our next mortgage payment, we are in a very fortunate to be in this situation, safely installed in our home. I know many others including some of my friends are not so fortunate. 

I am surprised at how well we have we have adjusted to being together all the time. We now both work from home and our house is a modest size. We have enough bedrooms for all the kids, but we do not have separate office space. I have built an office at the bottom of the stairs with a fold out desk, my other half works at the kitchen table. Through out our relationship, we have never spent this much time together. I would be travelling to work, or going to Toronto to see friends. 

We made large lifestyle changes during the time, it seemed like the prefect time to change the custody arrangement. We now have the kids fifty percent of the time, they spend one week with us and one with their mom.  It was an adjustment for all but I think we have settled into a nice rhythm. 

Our family vacation to Mexico had to be cancelled this year. We decided to renovate the house like many in our situation. If you are going to be sequestered together you might as well enjoy the space. 

Demolition was a bonding experience, nothing like getting out your aggression on parquet flooring and an assortment of tile. When you are living on subfloors, it’s a great time to also tackle the other gems of 80’s construction, such as no lighting fixtures in any rooms and beige electrical outlets. Everything got a fresh coat of paint; who needs Club Med, painting was a bonding experience with the kids helping out. 

This kept us busy for months and in August, the flooring installers arrived and a week later, we had new hardwood flooring throughout the house on the main and second level of the house. You realize how small your house is when you start calculating the amount of hardwood needed for the job. We are happy, it’s a huge improvement and our relationship survived a second renovation. 

We have been able to escape twice as a couple in the past seven months, we took 24 hours at a resort in the summer and 24 hours in Mont Tremblant last weekend. It’s important to take the time for your relationship, when you can so you can be strong for the family.

The new normal is not really normal. The kids are back to school but it’s not a normal high school experience. I think I feel for the kids the most in this situation, they are missing out on milestones they have waited their entire lives for. Anxiety is now the new normal and they are dealing with things and problems they should not have to at this age. 

We don’t know what the second wave will bring, we are already into our second round of restrictions here in Montreal. I can only hope, it’s not as devastating to the economy as the first round. As we head into winter and I am not able to escape to a paddle board on a lake, I have decided to try and explore my creative side and this blog will be one of those outlets. 

Photo: Falls Colours in Mont Tremblant