Have you forgotten what normal looks like as corovonavirus restrictions ease and students return to school? | Opinion

Depending on what side of the 'fence' you're on, the feeling of going back to some normal is certainly a strange concept to grasp.

I can only share from my view - and that's one of confusion.

In the news world, our days, hours, minutes can change in an instant.

At home, things were pretty consistent pre-covid - school Monday to Friday then jam everything you can into two days on the weekend (including trying to start or continue a new series on Netflix).

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Enter COVID-19 - some days, actually who even knows what day it is?

Returning to school was an exciting time in our household.

As an only child, the longing for peer interaction had certainly reached its peak and let's face it, at 12 hanging out with your parents continually isn't exactly the most fun thing to do.

With some homemade treats made, and a school lunch grocery shop done - we were all ready to set off on our first day of school.

Going about my daily activities still didn't quite feel 'normal' as we are still under the working from home regulations.

The only difference was no hourly "have you finished that subject yet?", "have you started that yet?", "don't play with the cat/dog until school is done".

Video meetings, phone call interviews and no lunch booked in with school mums meant for me - it was another 'coronavirus work day'.

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Sometime in the afternoon, after I had finished my third video conference for the day, I received a phone call from my husband.

"Did you forget something?" he asked.

"No," I replied as I ran through everything I possibly said I would do or organise for the day to make sure I kept up the name of 'super mum' or 'super wife' in our household.

"Are you really sure?" he prompted again.

I started to panic - was I so tired I couldn't remember what I needed to do?

I started searching around for my list of tasks for the day.

"I've done absolutely everything and then some," I said as I checked off the list knowing the sound of accomplishment was heard through my voice.

"What about 'the kid'," he prompted.

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What was said next probably can't be repeated in public. I looked down at the time and realised it was 3.30pm, school had finished 15 minutes ago.

I raced to school (adhering to the speed limits) to find my daughter sitting, waiting.

"My teachers said it's ok Natalie, Mum probably got stuck in a meeting," she told me.

"I told them it was more likely you forgot me - to which they all laughed."

Me, I'm blaming daylight savings and coronavirus.

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