Since this class is on social media, I decided that my final blog post would be brief narratives about some of the Facebook posts I made about Molly over the past year. I hope you enjoy Molly’s pandemic story!
One of the highlights of my time with Molly during the pandemic was having her teach me how to paint during our extended spring breaks and the creation of our basement art gallery, which I blogged about a few weeks ago: Creating a basement art gallery during isolation.
On March 17 our trip to Germany to visit Molly’s brother Sam was cancelled. On the day that would have been our last night in Munich we had a German-themed dinner to mark the day. Little did we know that the rest of our trips would also be cancelled, Sam would lose his job due to COVID in November, and he would be hired back in March 2021.
At the end of March, it was time for Molly to go back to school in the new remote learning model. She had a very short school day for the rest of the year and she managed to fill her days with new activities and hobbies she learned about from her friends and online, mostly from social media.
In April, my neighbor, Carolyn Bertsch, captured a photo of Molly on her scooter and she wrote a short piece in our local paper titled A new normal. At this time, we were just getting used to being at home and social distancing. Molly has remained diligent in being safe and I am proud of her.
Early on Molly amazed me by keeping busy with activities and crafts. She taught herself how to cook, bake, bead, sew, you name it. I loved it when her activities included me. Several times she put string wraps in my hair and they looked quite unique. Friends and family were also impressed with Molly’s ingenuity.
Fortunately, we were able to retain some of our traditions. Every May 1st Molly makes May-day baskets filled with candy for her neighbor friends. Just because it was a pandemic didn’t mean she couldn’t continue the custom of dropping off the baskets, ringing the doorbells, and running off.
Molly learned all kinds of cool trends on TikTok, and we were excited to try some of them out. Who doesn’t want to try out spaghetti tacos for Cinco de Mayo? Fried ice cream was also on the menu during the pandemic, which is one of our favorites.
For Mother’s Day 2020, Molly gave me the greatest gift of all—a rhetorical message of love and humor! To this day, this message makes me smile.
As the weather warmed up, we developed a newfound love for our bikes. We biked all over our community on bike paths and through the woods. One evening Molly and I got caught in the rain. We were almost home and the rain felt great and reminded us we were still alive and capable of feeling the water soak us.
Summer arrived and Molly’s arts and crafts continued. She sewed face masks and made clay creations. Molly taught me how to make beaded daisy bracelets. As time went on, we expanded our beading creations and made necklaces and rings as well. She also made us bucket hats that were adorable. I can’t wait for summer to arrive so we can wear our hats out in the sun. As soon as my graduate program is over, I am looking forward to more beading with her.
On August 10, 2020, Molly’s grandpa, Michael Chappell, died in a hospital in southern France due to COVID. We are waiting for the day we can spread his ashes among the vineyards and for some closure.
Even though we were living in a pandemic world, summer seemed to fly by. In September Molly started seventh grade as a distance learner. On her first day of school, we went to her school on our bikes and waved at the kids who were participating in hybrid learning. I wrote about Molly setting her room up in my very first blog: Finding a place to love during the pandemic.
Thanks to social media, I find out about special days devoted to pizza lovers, wine lovers, national puppy day, AND most importantly National Daughter’s Day! I was happy to take part in that celebration.
As fall progressed and COVID-19 spread and got worse in many places in the world, our trip to Bavaria and Tuscany on October 1 was cancelled. Molly and I celebrated, or mourned, with an Italian-themed lunch to mark the day and to remember the fun days we enjoyed in Italy the summer before.
Molly did a good job setting her alarm to get up for school even with the distance learning schedule. However, some mornings she fell back asleep. It was hard to get mad at her because the distance learning format allowed for down time in some of these classes, especially in her homeroom.
On Halloween Molly made plans to meet up with her friends, but when we arrived, they were not wearing masks or social distancing and she did not want to go in. That is the weird part of the pandemic, you don’t want to offend people, but you want to stay safe. The hosts were very nice and understanding. We had a modified Halloween celebration at home and Molly even did some trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. I know she is planning to spend lots of time with her friends once they have all been vaccinated.
Throughout the pandemic, Molly has had her cat, Poppy, at her side. The two are inseparable. They have an amazing relationship and seeing them together brings us all joy. Poor Poppy will be lost without Molly once she returns to school next fall. It’s nice to see that someone benefited from all this stay-at-home business.
This blog isn’t Molly’s first time helping with my graduate work. Last semester I worked on a gender equity group project and we conducted panels with groups to share stories about gender equity. Molly gathered an amazing group of girls to help our group out with the girl’s panel and we were impressed by their contributions. The full recording of the girl’s panel is available for those who may be interested.
Just a week after Molly’s brother Sam turned 24, he lost his job at a resort in Germany due to COVID. Unfortunately, Sam got COVID on his long journey home; however, he was asymptomatic. He had to isolate for a few weeks but when he came home, Molly made a Welcome Home sign for him. The reunion was bittersweet since Sam had to leave his friends, job, and lose his freedom. Luckily, Sam was offered his job back and he returned to Germany on March 21, 2021. The country is still shut down and we are hopeful the vaccines will roll out there and things will get better. We had four months with Sam, and I think Molly appreciated having her brother around.
Molly’s oldest brother Teddy and his fiancée Kaitlyn, along with their Chiweenie Lucy, were able to join us for two months over the holidays. Molly made several ski trips with her brothers, and it was nice having the whole family under one roof for that time. Molly helped us orchestrate a holiday greeting on TikTok.
My kids got downhill ski passes for the season so that they could ski together and Molly could also meet up safely with her friends, who also like to ski. Molly skied several times with Teddy, and when Sam arrived in Minnesota, he joined them. When Teddy went back to Philly, Sam and Molly skied together.
In January, Molly became a teenager. She has spent 1/12 of her life social distancing from friends and family. That is hard to grasp at times. Many other kids see their extended families, participate in team sports, and go to school. To quote Molly when I interviewed her for my last blog, “getting the vaccine will be a game-changer.”
Thank you for reading my blog throughout this semester. I wanted my work to document a time in life that will hopefully be behind us soon, but at the same time I want to remember what we endured, especially Molly, who was only 12 when this all started. I believe her experience will help her navigate the future and everything that comes her way.
