I miss our pre-pandemic life – Mummascribbles

We are 8 months into a pandemic. 8 months. Almost three quarters of a year. I’ve been doing OK. Dealing with it. Dealing with all that it means. But I have hit a bit of a point now. A solemn point. One that I cannot shift and not think about.

I really miss life.

I miss all the things that made life so much fun. Heck, I even miss soft play!

I miss the excitement of the kids when they knew they were going. I miss the buzz of them walking in and forgetting they need to take their shoes off before they attempt to go running towards the play area. I miss sitting with a hot chocolate and a sneaky pack of biscuits, scrolling through social media, reading a book, or simply chatting to the other half. I even miss having the odd run round with them and listening to their happy screams as we fly down the slide together. Yep, I miss soft play!

I miss parks! I hate parks. They are so bloody boring. But I miss them. I miss the simple thought of ‘shall we go to the park?’. I know parks re-opened, but I was over cautious and haven’t taken the boys yet. Maybe I will if it ever stops raining, but I miss the simplicity of just being able to let them run and climb all over things without worrying they are going to pick up deadly germs.

I miss live music. I mean, I haven’t been to a gig in bloody years but I am pining for those days now. I was stood in the kitchen yesterday listening to loads of my favourite music, some by bands that I have been lucky enough to see live, and I miss that experience so much. I mean it feels like right now there is never going to be a time when thousands of people can get together to enjoy the music that they love. Let alone go to things like festivals.

And on the same topic of live events, I miss the theatre. I absolutely love going to the theatre, whether it is to see a show for just the other half and I, or a family show for all of us. We had started up a bit of a tradition by going to the panto on Christmas Eve and I am so sad that won’t be happening this year. Again, the buzz and excitement of them never knowing where we are going, the train journey of wonder, and the final revelation when they find out where we have travelled to. I miss it all.

I miss visiting friends and family. I miss the kids getting together with their cousins. I miss having days out with my Sister. I miss chatting with cups of tea with in laws. I miss the kids playing with our friends children. We have seen them all on very odd moments when lockdown has been eased, but it never comes without worry and it never comes without being super careful.

I miss waking up on the weekend and deciding what to do with the day ahead. For the last 8 months it has pretty much been, “where shall we take the dog for a walk”, and that’s the extent of our adventures. The boys have had the most fun in the forest on many, many weekends, but that is as far as we have gone. I miss going out on adventures. To farms and zoos, to soft plays and bowling. I just miss having all of those things so accessible and without having to worry about mixing with people and germs.

I miss the kids not being able to do their activities. Zach managed to get back to swimming and Stagecoach for a few weeks before we locked down again, but Oscar hasn’t managed to get back to anything. Swimming, football. I miss them just being able to do their favourite activities without a care.

I just miss the life we had before. The ease of everything. Enjoying everything we took for granted. Enjoying watching my kids in pure happiness and not having to worry about anything. I hope to god that we can return to some kind of normal soon and my kids can get back to having a normal childhood again.

I just want our old life back.