Here’s my experience on the Corona-Quarantine-Timeline as I remember it
Sometime early 2020 — a friend from my MFA program who lives in China posted a Facebook message about how to quarantine. It had a pep talk vibe. As in, hey this is coming your way, but you can do it! I thought… ha! Try to tell Americans they have to shut down all the things and stay home. HahaHA! If it comes to that, we’re all going to die.
Late February 2020 — started having to do surveys at school about the feasibility of switching to online class. Began to wonder.
Also late February, my school started collecting all the Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer (yup—they got it before you could) and enacting wipe-down-desks-after-every-class policies.
March 7 I went to a music festival in Tampa and I knew. I knew this was the end of all the fun. So dammit. I went to the very front for Brandi Carlile. Oh yes I did. #nomask
March 12 Spent so much money at Sam’s Club. This included two Sam’s size toilet paper packs even though I knew I had plenty of toilet paper at home. I’m not sorry. I heard from friends that they went later that same day and Sam’s was out when they went. Still not sorry but willing to share with them.
March 13 — last day of school before spring break. We had a field day that included games where students had to hold hands and pass a hula hoop without letting go. #whatissocialdistancing
March 13pm Drove to Georgia for our Spring Break trip. There was no canceling. The main point of trip was picking up my oldest son from a school program he’d completed. On the drive up, started to read more news. Started to freak out. Had my husband wipe down the steering wheel and hand sanitize every time we stopped for gas.
March 14 Picked up the kid. Ate in a restaurant knowing it could be the last time in who-knew-how-long
March 14-17 Hung out in our Airbnb mostly ordering take-out and watching movies. We went on one area hike a day.
March 18 — Back in FL; went to the beach #itsfineeverythingisfine
March 19 — 22 Stayed Home. Did our first 1,000-piece puzzle.
March 23 — Zoom Training. I had the option of training from home or I could go in and work in my classroom. I opted to go in because I wanted to clear out some stuff from my room and get a bunch of books for my own kids to read. After work, I went to Target to get all my kids’ Easter candy because I knew I likely wouldn’t be leaving the house again anytime soon. The empty shelves made me sad.
March 24 — Started teaching online. That’s a whole separate story. #itsfineeverythingisfine
March 26 — Went to a small local business and got three pies, brought two to friends. Enjoyed standing in their driveways 6 feet away and talking.
March 29 — Decided to take the family, dog included, to my husband’s coworker’s parent’s cow pasture to get outside and say hi to cows. This ended up being a disaster. Never got to the cows. Dogs in the driveway thought my dog was a snack. My puny dog was not a snack only because all adult humans in radius fought on his side. (FYI there is no social distancing when tangled up in a dog fight.) Spent the afternoon having a conversation six feet away from the emergency vet about how many stitches my pups would need. #hesfineeveryoneisfine but also #conehead
I haven’t gone past my mailbox since this day. And there have been so many days but since this awful no-cow day… Since truly, truly staying home, it has been just a long stream of days.
I’m keeping track of school days vs weekend days because I teach and make my older kids do school and sometimes I remember to log in my youngest and mark him present. I’m keeping track of Wednesdays because that’s when Hulu releases new episodes of Little Fires Everywhere. I know Easter happened in there somewhere because we had mimosas and gave each of our kids a basket with all that candy I’d bought a century before. Oh and Facebook Live church.
We are on our third 1,000-piece puzzle. We have used up the sidewalk chalk left over from when my kids were younger. I’m on day 50,000 of my Dualingo streak. We have not bothered with low-carb dinners as had been our pre-Covid, most-nights practice, and with my husband being the shopper now, we suddenly keep ice cream in the house. #allmyclothesaretight
We have jobs. Two jobs for me! (Three if you count slacker homeschool mom.) I have a book coming out in two weeks or two years or something. We have toilet paper. We have enough devices to go around to do work/school at the same time. We have Netflix and Hulu. So friggin’ hashtag blessed, but we do not have a pool, and this is a disappointment. If pandemics become a thing? Screw the plan to pay off our equity line before any more *major purchases. This mom needs a pool. *Major… like that car I bought in February that looks great in the driveway!
We wash our hands after getting the mail now. My husband goes straight to the shower when he comes home from work or grocery shopping. We have our practices in place that seem safe and practical for us. Maybe we’re doing enough. Maybe we’re not. Maybe this is the new normal. Maybe it’s not.
I hope not.
I miss the beach. I don’t want anyone I know to die. (What a weird juxtaposition of sentences.)
And I’d like to release a second book during a non-pandemic time line and get to have an in-real-life release party. #nothingagainstfacebooklive
Now I’ve written so many words that everyone in my household is in bed. I have done zero grading this evening. Zero book promoting projects. How can there be so much time and not enough time at all?
So. Off to sleep so I can wake up to more of the same in a world that is totally different.