COVID-19 Life, 3-21-2020

I don’t know how many days we are into this craziness because there’s no real specific “start” date. Things are changing so much and so quickly from day to day and it feels like this has been going on forever in some ways. A lot of the time it all feels like a dream and I have no doubt someday, hopefully soon, when we look back on all of this it will be hard to believe it wasn’t. I want to remember all of the craziness though. I know it will make us all so much more grateful for the little things. Meeting a friend for lunch at a sit-down restaurant or taking the whole family out to a favorite pizza joint. Hugging people again. Watching your children practice or compete in their sports and activities. Waving goodbye to them as they get on the school bus. Going to the grocery store with a list and a plan instead of buying what’s available and making it work. A good workout at the gym. Toilet Paper.

I want to remember the good too. There have been so many “Happy Accidents” that have come out of all of this which has been almost as big of a shock as the craziness. Time. Everyone is so busy all the time that we have even started to foolishly think busy=successful. These last several days have reminded me of my own childhood when things were simpler. Slower. The days were long. My kids have played games, rode bikes, gone fishing, and still had time to fit in their beloved electronics. My house is getting clean…like really clean, not just quickly picked up and spot cleaned in a hurry. Cooking meals is no longer a burden, but instead a blessing. We eat together and not just dinner. Although church services are online, we don’t have sport events keeping us from them and watching in jammies with my favorite coffee cup isn’t terrible. People are reaching out to help each other and doing random acts of kindness like never before. We are learning not to waste or take for granted.

So here’s to remembering today. Even though it was cool, the sun was shining. I stopped in the grocery store to grab some chocolate milk. That’s something new. I used to buy chocolate milk often when the kids were littler but rarely do anymore. I have found myself looking at everyday things like “milk” though and wondering how I can make them more fun. When your stuck in the house that’s important I think. Also, the more options we have the longer the regular milk lasts for things like cooking and cereal. I was surprised that the shelves were stocked better than I had seen in a long time. There was some meat, a little bread and most of the aisles, although not exactly full, weren’t completely empty. Except the toilet paper aisle of course. I brought my camera. Not my just my phone, my BIG camera. This was something I worked up the courage to do the year that I kept a 365 day photo blog but that courage has faded and it felt weird. A man caught me photographing the toilet paper aisle and stared at me as if that’s the strangest thing going on in the grocery store these days. Not. Even. Close. I wanted to capture more but… baby steps.

I came home and started cleaning. I learned that our gray stools that the kids sit in at the kitchen counter are actually white. I put my favorite Contemporary Christian playlist on shuffle and the first song that played was “Stand In Your Love” which felt like a comforting message. (My fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love!).

The kids hung out on electronics for a little while and then went outside. I ran. I am signed up for a 5k the beginning of May and have been working up the bravery to see what I could really do outside where there are hills and wind and I can’t just stop when I want (cause I have to get back home). The gym is closed now so ready or not. I ran 2.72 miles. Just half a mile short of a 5k and it was easy. I got home just in time to learn that starting Tuesday, my county will be under a “Stay At Home Order” for at least 30 days. I thought I at least knew what those days would look like, now I’m not sure.

I came in and did my sit ups on one of those giant balls with a handle that kids bounce around on because I don’t own a yoga ball. I used a dumb bell instead of a med ball for Russian Twists. I’m learning to be flexible and improvise. Tacos for dinner made out of beef patties that were on sale because there was no packaged beef or turkey the day I got groceries. I wanted a Diet Pepsi. I earned it. We have a CVS right down the road so I headed out for my reward. Yeah, I know…artificial sweeteners are bad, blah, blah, blah but it’s more important to be kind to ourselves right now I think (in moderation). CVS turned out to be one of those moments where everything is feeling kinda normal and then it hits you like a brick wall and you feel like you are in a freaky movie. Somehow I missed it all until I got to the check out. The first thing I noticed was there was a man who seemed to be randomly standing in the middle of the store about halfway between myself and the checkout. I then realized he was actually practicing social distancing, like the whole 6 feet away from the line so I stood 6 feet behind him and the two of us managed to create a line across half of the store. Then there were the crates. They were heavy duty plastic crates stacked two rows deep between the cashier/counter and where the customers stand to pay. There were signs on top asking customers to comply with social distancing (as if we had a choice). Handing them my cash was tricky because I could barely reach them and considered tossing it at them. They had gloves and masks on. That was today.

This past week was Spring Break for our schools so we have one more “day off” and then Monday we start homeschooling. The next day we start “Stay At Home Order”. More change. More unknowns.