For a family that thrives on vacations and travel around the world, one of the worst parts of the pandemic in 2020 is not being able to go anywhere safely. Airplanes are completely out for the risk-adverse like us, and we certainly aren’t heading out on a cruise ship any time soon. But a short road trip to the shore at Cape May seemed like a relatively safe way to get out of the house and spend some time together as a family without exposing ourselves to the risk associated with other forms of vacation.

Four years ago, when our twins were born, I was able to take the full six weeks of parental leave offered by my company to get to bond with them and share a great part of their childhood together. Now, with our nearly five month old, I’m starting six weeks of parental leave again with the hope of spending more time together with him that I’ve had a chance so far and getting to know him a bit better.

This summer, during COVID distancing, I decided to run 1000 km as part of the Great Virtual Run Across Tennessee. Over the past three months, I ran 665 miles, traversing virtually the distance from west to east across Tennessee. I’m now heading back across TN, though I will likely not make it much further as the event ends on August 31. It’s still a pretty major accomplishment, and by far the furthest I’ve run in a three month period.

Four years may not seem like a long time, in parenting years, it’s a lifetime. Parents adapt a remarkable ability to forget and move on from early parenting challenges. From the late nights, the tantrums, and the teething, there are numerous things that are easy to forget after kids move from newborns to infants to toddlers. With our third child, we’ve had a stark reminder of all of these challenges.

Last week, the Northeast got knocked out by Tropical Storm Isaias and we were left without power for five days and internet for six. While we waited for restoration, I still had to work, so after a day of difficult working situations, we decided to head out to my grandmother’s house in PA for a little visit and to have the benefit of air conditioning and internet for a few days.

I was originally supposed to run my first ever 50K in April with the New Jersey Trail Series. COVID interrupted that, like so many other things. Instead of completing my run before our baby was born, and right after completing my months of long runs involving the sacrifice of numerous weekends, my race was delayed to the fall. Throughout the summer, while on lockdown, I looked for opportunities to do long trail runs to prepare for the race in September.

Recently, my company announced that employees like myself who can work from home, should continue to do so until at least Jan 2021. While it’s difficult to anticipate how the course of COVID will continue to run and what work will actually look like after that, it’s enough of a change to mean accepting remote work as a certainty for the time being. It’s time to make some changes to how we work and how teams operate to remain productive and happy.

COVID and the ensuing lockdown has seen me spending more time in nature, especially around our house, than in a long time. In the mornings, I like to sit out on the deck before it gets too hot, and have enjoyed the serenity that comes with watching the birds and whatever other animals make their way through the yard. The extra time at home and in the yard has made me appreciate the connection to nature we have and want to take several steps to protect and encourage more of it.

Bringing a baby into the world during a global pandemic and lockdown certainly wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was spending the first two months with that baby at home while our older twins were home from daycare. On the positive side, I’ve had more time at home with all three kids than I expected and I haven’t been at work during the first two months of our baby’s life. However, it’s not like I’m actually spending that time bonding with my child, and the time I do have outside of working is primarily going to devoting attention to the twins.

After three months locked in the house with three feral children who were perfectly described as “drunken penguins”, we’ve been anxious to start getting out of the house again. With numerous business reopenings in the past few weeks, from parks to beaches, to amusement parks, zoos, and restaurants, we were finally starting to make plans to leave the house again. But the coronavirus had other plans. Even though we can go out, we’re largely choosing not to.