Day 19: My Childhood Came Back

Day 19: April 14, 2020
Global cases: 1,997,906; Deaths: 128,061
Egypt cases: 2,350; Deaths: 178

Noha Saada
Senior Director of Academic Advising Center
Office of the Associate Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management

I woke up today at 9am, three hours later than my usual wake-up time before quarantine. My sons were already up, both on their laptops, waiting to see what their teachers have put for the day. On a normal school day, I would expect by now a call from the school to complain about my sons’ behavior, or that they threw their lunch away, or that they accidentally bumped their heads against the wall and are waiting for me in the clinic to come and pick them up.

“Mommyyyyy,” Adam shouted, “I am the star of the week.” I said, “Well done Adam! I am super proud of you”. Actually, I was surprised and delighted by his achievement and mine, for it took us so long to work on last week’s work and a huge effort from my side to understand his academic strengths and weaknesses, which I knew nothing about before the quarantine.

We ate breakfast together, drank milk, laughed hysterically on how my younger son’s hair looked, all grown so long and no way for me to dare and cut it myself. After a short discussion, we all agreed on accepting how funny it looks until the quarantine is over.

Each started working independently, though in the same room. I had to mute the microphone several times while I was on zoom meetings because they were shouting and quarreling. I had to give them some sharp ‘mom’ looks every now and then and instructed them to stop fighting, or else they would be punished. I was thankful they did not ask what their punishment was, because, in light of the current events, I can’t ban them from going on playdates, because they are already banned. I can’t punish them by not taking them to footpark, bounce, or the club, because they are all closed.

I was suddenly thankful that they just stopped fighting with no questions asked, as they are already giving up a lot of what makes them who they are by staying at home.

I then paused and thought to myself: is quarantine as bad as I thought? Honestly the answer is no. There are lots of good things that we are blessed with during this period that I ought to be thankful for. For the first time ever, we eat breakfast and lunch together. We get to sleep longer, yet start working on time. No one is showing off, as all households are leading the same lifestyle.

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.

I am focusing more on my household and started organizing each corner of my home. I found loads of missing stuff, buried deep under the beds, or up high above the kitchen cabinets. I gave to the needy, because I sorted clothes, kids’ toys and shoes, which I did not do for the past year or two because of my busy schedule.

In the evening, we sat together watching a family movie, as it became a ritual since the start of the lockdown. And for the first time, I painted with my children to entertain them. Tonight I unleashed the kid that lies inside of me and remembered the coziness of my parent’s apartment and how we sat together laughing, screaming, and playing card games.

One more time, some 30 years later, my calm childhood came back to life, giving me a chance to understand, relate and connect to my own family members, who turned out to be in need of emotions, support, laughter and cuddling. They were hungry for family time, hungry to see me more often and taste my food, hungry to sit together, with no busy schedule, no forced outings, no training, no urgent commitments … except of course for the weekly supermarket visits.

For that I believe I am blessed; blessed to turn back time, blessed to pause time and blessed to be around people I love the most. And after almost five weeks of quarantine, I decided to willingly focus on positives and capitalize on each moment we spend together, for it might leave memories for my children worth more than 30 years of life.