It doesn’t have to be said that the last twelve months have been difficult for everyone. As we come up on the one year anniversary of the pandemic we’ve found ourselves reflecting on what we’ve learned, and what we’re so grateful for. 

In our family

The biggest change came last spring when everything closed and the lockdowns began. Our kids were home full-time, and we were doing school and running Nightingale out of the house, which blurred any lines that used to exist between work-life boundaries. 

It didn’t take us long to figure out that:

1. We don’t like our kids that much.
2. Neither of us are particularly good teachers.
3. We really missed and appreciated our kids’ teachers!

We love our kids! Just not pandemic 24/7 much. Only seeing the same faces every day, and being stuck doing the same things over and over again was draining for all of us! Kids are hyperactive so they always needed to be doing something. We found them getting bored very quickly when we were all at home during the lockdown, and they constantly needed our attention. But we also needed to work, and somehow find time for ourselves too! It wasn't easy to find that balance.

LOTS of Cosmic Kids yoga sessions

True story: when we received an email from our son’s school saying they were considering reopening the school last June, Duy signed up immediately for updates on getting the kids back into school. He was apparently the second person to do so - right after me!

Not that we were trying to get them out of the house and our hair, but we felt that they were really missing out on those important social interactions. It’s so critical for kids to go to school, see their friends, and learn from their teachers (who are way more qualified to teach than we are!).

Like many other parents, we had come to realize how frustrating it is to juggle  work, taking care of your kids, managing your household, and taking  time for yourself, all at the same time - on top of being stressed about a global pandemic. We saw a lot of similar struggles from other parents, but more importantly we saw the strength to find ways to make it all work. 

In our community

We have beensuper inspired by people in the community around us. Though 2020 was a year full of hardship for everyone, it was also beautiful to see people bonding and helping out one another in any way possible.

We saw so many small businesses come together and share their resources, post shout-outs to other businesses and products, and offer promotions that were supporting frontline workers and those that needed help.

Seeing how our community of moms supporting one another, sharing stories and words encouragement was also something special. We've seen it helped a lot of us who were going through some of the most difficult times.

We also donated our blankets to raise money for @auctionforaspen and a few other causes that we believe in

As a business, and as individuals, we felt that joining in to help however we could was necessary. We spread awareness of the virus and how to keep safe on all our platforms, and raised money to send masks to hospitals. 

We donated all the masks to a hospital in San Diego, as they were running dangerously low. The frontline workers had been forced to reuse their masks for weeks. The process to donate the masks wasn't all straightforward, as we had to break up the shipments into several parts, sometimes sending only 30 masks at a time. 

However, hearing the frontline workers share about the conditions they were working in at the hospital, the stress and fear they experienced and yet, how happy and relieved they were to have those masks to be able to keep themselves safe and hanging in there for a bit longer really hit us hard. 

The frontline workers at San Diego Medical Center 

Feeling both the magnitude of the situation and how that little gesture (on our part) made so much of a difference for them really pushed us to do more. Thanks to all of your support, whether by chipping in or by helping to spread the word, you - our Nightingale community - really made a difference for the frontline workers!

Despite all the troubles and loss over the past twelve months, we’ve seen so much support and love from our community - and that’s what we’re most grateful for. We hope that this year will truly mark the end of the pandemic and  that life will soon go back to normal. We also hope that the lessons we learned this year enable us to move forward with gratitude, and to that continue to treat each other with kindness.