The hardest and best decision I made during quarantine was to “keep serving the peanuts.” Early on in the stay-at-home order, I began listening to Glennon Doyle’s Untamed. She tells the story of a difficult time in her life and shares an analogy of a flight experiencing turbulence. When you are on a plane with a great deal of turbulence, what do you do? You look to the flight attendants who should have the most knowledge and experience and probably know best how this situation will pan out. What do the flight attendants do? They keep serving the peanuts and water and do so with confidence, grace, and a smile. They may brace for bigger bumps, but the peanuts continue to be served.
After listening to that analogy, I sent it to my friends. I said, “This is what we need to do. We need to keep serving the peanuts”. The world began to rapidly change in early March. As the world felt like it was losing control around us, I took my boys on hikes. As I read the news and uncertainty surmounted, I played in the backyard with my kids. As things got scary and hard and confusing, I may have slipped into the bathroom to shed a few tears then come out to play a game or serve another snack.