The Hits DJ's, Adam Green and Megan Banks at NZME radio studio, Napier.
The Hits DJ's, Adam Green and Megan Banks at NZME radio studio, Napier.
What a year this week has been. So many emotions to go through, so much time with the kids. We started as many did, with no idea of how the new routine was going to work.
Or even if we would have a routine. And so we stumbled into afour-week shutdown with the new screentime limit, infinity. For all of us, parents glued to screens trying to find the latest news, what is essential, what is not, kids trying desperately to track down friends' contact details on various apps and email accounts.
In between times, fixing meals, trying a board game and trying desperately to find a hint of normalcy. Except everything was so far from normal. No trip to the school gate to wave off a smiling kid, no "welcome home how was your day" in the space of a week it all changed so drastically.
But as the week has gone on, so too have things started to settle down. The struggles are still there, lurking, worry about friends, finances and family, but so too is a new normal emerging.
An evening video call to a friend we hadn't caught up with for years. A laugh with the kids on a small neighbourhood walk, and a moment to yourself in a corner of the garden you hadn't visited in a while.
Dinner time comes earlier in the day, the pressure of rushing home and whipping up whatever you can before rushing out the door to a sport or engagement lifted, making way for a chance to sit around a table, to take time, and to talk.
In amongst the struggles of adapting to a never before seen nationwide shutdown, come some moments of joy, and while it's not always easy, it becomes easier to appreciate them, and things that in the past were totally taken for granted.
A coffee with friends, a casual Friday drink at the pub, a concert with friends or a quick game of footy at the park all among the things that will take on a new sense of meaning and perhaps a slightly deeper appreciation when all's said and done and a new, New Zealand emerges.
At The Hits Hawkes Bay we've been lucky to continue being a part of the community we love, and hopefully, bring a smile and a bit of normalcy to an unequalled situation for Hawke's Bay. Look after each other, wash your hands, and try and appreciate the small wins!
Tune in to The Hits Hawkes Bay on the iheart radio app, free in your app store as well as on 89.5fm
