Covid Stories: Lauren

March of 2020 feels like a lifetime ago.

After living through severe economic instability since 2015, my family of 5 had finally attained some semblance of financial security. We had $50 in a savings account for the first time in our lives. Our days hummed in a mundane rhythm of school drop offs, jobs, school pickups, and bedtimes.
And then the world stopped.

When COVID-19 closed-down schools and shuttered childcare centers, my husband and I were at a complete loss as to how to manage work, education, and childcare. Like mothers across the country, I was expected to work like I did not have children and to parent like I did not have to work. It felt like I was carrying the weight of the world. For the first 6 months of the pandemic, I worked 50+ hour weeks, tended to my preschool aged children, and supported my eldest in her virtual learning.
Until I couldn’t.

Like over 3 million American women, particularly fellow women of color, I was forced to leave the workforce because policymakers have forgotten that women like me make this country run every day. I would have to do so twice over the course of the pandemic. Both times I was actively being considered for a promotion. Due to my subsequent loss of health insurance I also had to forgo critical mental health treatment, which sometimes made the strain of our circumstances feel insurmountable. Countless times during the past two years I have felt forgotten and left behind as policies like direct payments, universal healthcare, student debt cancellation, and pre-k that could have helped families like mine languished in the face of politics.

But I refuse to remain powerless.

No one should have to make tremendous sacrifices just to survive. We deserve so much more. We all deserve to thrive. If the past two years have taught us anything it is that only when our government reflects us will we have policies that reflect the needs and values of our communities. The lack of supportive policies for families throughout this crisis has driven me to found and lead a coalition of advocates devoted to breaking down barriers to parents running for elected office. I have also launched a non-profit aimed at building power among Black, Indigenous, and women of color to engage in the Texas legislative process.

Sometimes things need to break for us to recognize that they weren’t working to begin with.

As the world is slowly re-opening, I have been grateful to find some things have changed for the better since 2020. Upon returning to the workforce, I was able to find a fully remote position with healthcare that respects my role as a caregiver and has more flexible scheduling practices. These arrangements are helping me to break from previous patterns and emulate a healthy work life balance for my children. My husband has returned to full-time in-office work. Now that we are both back in the workforce we are driven to repair the damage to our credit that underemployment and the subsequent late and missed payments caused. We aspire to one day own our own home. We are tremendously hopeful that our commitment to saving will pay off one day so that we can set our children on a better path. Our children have also now happily returned to school with their friends and are accessing mental health support to deal with what growing up during the time of COVID-19 means. As our family rebuilds, we will build back better.
My name is Lauren Rangel, I live in Austin, Texas and this is my family’s COVID story.