[joe_hills]

Thanks! Before everything locked down, I was lucky to have a lot of day-to-day support from my family, friends, and colleagues.

One of the ways I tried to demonstrate appreciation for their help was by actively working to structure my life and career so I could be less reliant on them in the future. I had no idea how soon I wouldn't have any choice, but my preparation for self-employment and plan to minimize outside child-care definitely made handling the COVID-forced changes easier.

[actfrench]

It's so natural and normal to rely on extended family and community for help. For some reason, I think American culture encourages us to be more independent and self-sufficient as the end game. I bet it brought your family, friends and colleagues a lot of joy to be involved in your children's lives. We are two and I do not know how we'd do it without grandparents and honorary grandparents.