Chapter 41: Sinking and Swimming Through the Covid-19 Pandemic

It is difficult to settle on a framework for writing this essay. On the one hand, I find it cathartic to have a forum to express how difficult the past ten months of pandemic life have been for me and my family of five. After all, we have been in our house, together, all day every day since March 2020. We have not, however, lost a family member, our livelihoods, or our home, which leaves us much to be grateful for. I also have a partner—so I am not one of the many people parenting alone, and tenure—making my job more stable, and perhaps allowing me to speak a bit more freely about my experiences without fear of repercussions. Neither of my two school age children receive special education services, so they have been able to access and adapt to online learning in ways that might not be possible for many students. Although we are certainly not the family whose story is most in need of attention, I will take this opportunity to outline what our lives have been like, the shortcomings of the institutions we had hoped would support us, and the unanticipated ways we have changed.