Well, it has been a minute. The longest minute of the Korol family’s lives, and I imagine for most everyone. The last time we wrote in this space, it was March 6th and I somehow was writing about a ski trip to Lebanon at the end of February 2020 with a buddy. I wore a mask in transit for that trip, which was the first time I wore a mask for any length of time in something that has become much, much more familiar in the intervening months. Mu and Elle were in South Africa. That feels like a lifetime ago.
As a family, we have moved a lot in the intervening year. Back in February of 2020, we were so excited to have settled into Cairo for a good long time, at least for our life. We love the city, our apartment, our friends and community and the life that was supposed to unfold over the next 3+ years.
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| March 4th 2020 in Cairo on the Nile |
It was not to be. We left Cairo in March due to COVID, lived in DC for four and half months, went up to Maine for about four months and then moved back to the DC area after Thanksgiving. Four houses in a year, four school set ups for Elle, a couple of jobs for each of us. We are deeply grateful for the opportunities and privilege that allowed us to adapt.
Through it all, like so many we at various points were in quarantine, isolation, pods, socially distant hangs, fire pits, COVID scares, and being fearful of groceries and grocery stores.
By far the biggest joy was the new addition to our family, Lacy Rose. Rosy is a 9 month old or so mini poodle puppy that is just perfect and exactly what we needed when we got her in August. She loves Elle the most, but is quite taken with her grandparents (Wilson and Muriel) and is such a joy. She brings a lot of joy to whomever we see on the street walking in our neighborhood, which is quite fun.
We also grew to love Thursday evening livestreams from/with Ben Gibbard, sunset picnics, zoom calls with people whom it had been too long since we had spoken with, so many home-cooked delicious meals, having Elle connect to my hometown and state, finding joy in local exploration, weekly outdoor dance parties on the DC waterfront, and the first delicious, decadent takeout meal. I went almost 75 days without being in a car, which I think is the longest period of not being in a combustion-driven vehicle in my life. Here is to being local and immersed where you are.
Why did we pull back from this blog, which has been part of our life and connecting to loved ones near and far for so many years? Good question, and some (maybe a lot) gets to an ennui from pandemic living, of adjusting to life together as a family that was different than the life that came before. Some is that we have mostly celebrated life and experiences abroad since we started this blog in 2012, and it didn’t feel like this was celebrating time. And some was guilt over our new lives and being able to adjust in the midst of so much pain and uncertainty for millions, nay billions.
And ... the ongoing reckoning and our own increased awareness around structural racism and inequality. Having long treasured diversity, it has been quite a journey to come to more fully understand the deep deep deep and pervasive aspect of white privilege and as a result my own unconscious bias, a privilege that applies and explains so much in my life. Am trying to be a better person, more aware of that privilege, aware that not everyone feels the same about and in the spaces that I inhibit, aware that I have so much to do, and can do, to be a better member of my communities.
One other thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is how we have such a finite time on this earth, that we are destined to die from the moment we take our first breadth. We are mortal. Memory and experiences are some of, if not the, highest currency of our time on this earth. And while many of the memories of this time will be painful, we sure do have a lot of memories. Some days never felt so long with memories, good and bad. And often in short succession. It has been an intense period in our lives and family, which we hope makes us better humans for however long we are blessed to be on this earth.
Much love - be safe and be well.
