By Cheryl Bac
E-mail Cheryl Bac
About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons incl...
(More)About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons including Chicago and Boston. Exercise is an integral part of my life. I hope to one day go back to long distance running and tackle the New York City Marathon. Right now I run after my one year old son. Although I am a stay-at-home mom, we are rarely "at home." My mom also stayed at home with my brother and me. She warned me that, although rewarding, it can be isolating. So, with her help, I learned the importance of getting out into the community and meeting other mothers. On the rare occasion when I am at home and have a hand or two free, I squeeze in time to scrapbook. As a new mom, many challenges are thrown my way. I hope my opinions, triumphs, and struggles help experienced parents reminisce, new parents cope, and parents-to-be get an honest glimpse of what the first years of motherhood can entail.
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This year especially I enjoyed receiving Christmas cards from friends and relatives. It was great to see their smiling faces and read about some of the positive experiences they had during a difficult year.
My favorite Christmas letter was from my grandmother. Like many her age, she had a tough year. Both her husband and her sister passed away. And she has been isolated in her apartment since covid began.
We video chat with my grandmother every Sunday and on holidays. She doesn’t say much during these meetings, but she clearly enjoys listening to the conversation and watching her kids, grandkids and great grandkids interact and play.
Her Christmas letter was almost entirely about these weekly video chats. She talked about how much fun it is to see her great grandkids grow up right before her eyes. My nephew was a little baby when covid started and is now an almost walking toddler. Seeing him go from learning how to sit on his own to crawling, to cruising, to now taking a few steps were all uplifting experiences for us to share together as an extended family.
As we say goodbye to 2020, I’m very thankful to be able to say hello to my grandmother every weekend. After many months of these video chats, I needed the reminder about why they are so important. I’m planning to keep her Christmas letter out so that I remember that these silly video chats are such a simple way to add many smiles, laughs and memories to her life until we can see her again in person.
