Yesterday my kids got to see their dad. For the first time in five weeks.

You see my loving husband is what we now call an “essential” worker. He is exposed countless times a day to the public, exposing himself to the virus in effort to serve his community. Since we have two kids with weakened immune systems, we made the discussion for me to move out of the house with the kids and in with my parents in effort to keep our kids safe until this pandemic is over.

Over the past weeks I have missed the warm embrace of my husband’s strong arms after a long day. I have missed the sight of the kids running to the door as daddy arrives home from work. I have missed my best friend.

This wasn’t our typical Easter morning. There wasn’t the pitter patter of bare feet down the stairs to find their Easter baskets. There wasn’t freshly pressed dresses and church services. There weren’t lazy afternoons with egg hunts in the backyard as their daddy chased them.

Today we stood in an empty parking lot, feet apart. We opened Easter baskets from a distance. He watched the kids’ faces as they excitingly opened Easter basket on the black top. They yelled over to him with delight as they waved their new candy in the air to show him.

We waved goodbye with tears in our eyes.

We all are scarifying a lot for the greater good right now- we are canceling birthday parties, we are unable to hold graduations, we are missing loved ones. We all are grieving normal day life. Longing for the normalcy we once used to complain about.

Some day this will all be a memory. Something our kids will read about in history books. We will get through this.

The only thing we can do right now is protect our family, support those on the front line, and make simple memories with our kids.

This Easter did not look like those from the past, however it was still filled with giggles and joy- from afar!