Social Distancing Day Eleventeen?

Hi there! Since I last posted here a whopping two weeks ago or so, the whole world has crumbled. Who could have guessed what a difference a day makes, other than maybe Dinah Washington.* I’m only one of a zillion people writing about COVID-19 right now, so I won’t waste your time repeating what you’ve already had blasted at you for weeks now.

What I can tell you is where we’re at as a family, physically (almost 100% home) and emotionally (surprisingly okay). We had stocked up on toilet paper not long before this, so thankfully we didn’t have to do any panic shopping.

Cornholio here has plenty of TP for his bunghole.

We’ve had lots of friends checking in, mostly on my emotional state regarding the Big Trip. And you know what? I’m surprisingly okay with it being screwed up. This isn’t meant to sound holier than thou or something, but my brain is really good at shutting down my ego or id or whatever part of it is about me me me, when things are bad all around me. When I have big stress or sadness in my life, one of my coping mechanisms is to find a way to help others who are worse off in some way. Maybe that’s volunteering or donating to a charity, or something along those lines. It’s a distraction but also feels productive, and it helps me keep perspective when I’m feeling down.

So here we are in an extreme version of that. Yes, if our trip gets shortened/postponed/cancelled, it’s going to suck. And it will mean that some of the last two years of my life will have been wasted time. But after I had my one good cry about it, things turned so serious around the world that my brain did its thing. Two years partially wasted? So what? That’s better than us being responsible for even one person’s death. And by the way, we aren’t getting laid off or trying to figure out how to pay our mortgage during this crisis. So, my time to whine is over.

Now we’re trying to focus on being good citizens during this crisis. We’re home most of the time. We do get outside pretty much every day, and sometimes that is with friends for a walk or hike. But we walk at least 6 feet apart from each other and resist the urge to hug goodbye. It could be that as time passes we find that even outdoor “playdates” like this are a bad idea, but for now the science seems to be on our side. We figure the fresh air, exercise, and conversation is great for us overall, and it makes the rest of social distancing much easier to tolerate.

We’re also trying to find ways to help from our cocoon. Mike has been gathering up lists of friends who are either looking for work or looking for employees, so he can bring them together. We’ve also donated to a local group that is trying to provide meals for healthcare workers on the front lines. I’m going to put together a similar list of friends’/local businesses that are still open (virtually) and could use some customers. All around us, we know people who are doing similar small (and bigger) things to keep the economy moving in any way it can. None of us is going to save the world here, but every little bit helps.

Our favorite help is also great for us - getting delivery from local restaurants for dinner a few times a week. Yes, there is risk that goes with this as well. We’re clear on that but have decided that for us, the pros outweigh the cons. Globally right now, it’s basically a battle between the economy and human lives. To save one, we have to hurt the other. My hope is that we can at least keep some money flowing through the system so that not everyone is at a total standstill. So many businesses truly can’t do anything active right now, so I want to support those that can. Restaurants and grocery stores provide the food we need, so it seems like a no-brainer to pay them to feed me. I know there are also plenty of families who suddenly can’t afford this luxury, so I’m grateful we can take on this great “burden” ourselves. ;)

The kids are doing great, too. Sagan is an introvert at heart, so this is not much of a hardship for him. On sunny days he’s skateboarding. When we got dumped with snow this week, he found some other teens who had constructed a terrain park nearby and snowboarded.

Story is the most surprising of us all. She’s mellow and happy and barely complaining at all. I thought for sure she’d be losing her shit by now, but I’d forgotten that her biggest stressors are 1) transitions and 2) FOMO like a MOFO. Well guess what, transitions don’t happen when you have NOTHING TO DO EVER. It’s taking you 45 minutes to get dressed? Fantastic. That’s 45 minutes where I don’t have to entertain you. And FOMO doesn’t apply when nobody else is doing anything, either. So I guess her brain can do the thing, too. She’s chill and happy.

So that’s how we are. How are you? Check in with us, because we’ve got the time to chat and would love to know that you’re well, too. We have phones, email, Google Hangouts, Messenger, Zoom, and whatever other thing you can find. Please keep doing the social distancing so we can make it through this in weeks rather than months. And most of all, stay safe! This is tough, but we’re all in this together.

*Yes, I looked that up. I also learned that the song has been covered by many artists and was actually written by some dude. Wikipedia it if you’re curious.