I Woke Up to a Brave New World

Two weeks ago, I sat in my living room listening to my 30 year old tell me about the coming pandemic. I thought he had been obsessing on the news, and was just getting anxious. He warned me that grocery stores would be left with empty shelves. I didn’t believe it was possible in today’s world. I was wrong…

Teen son had been sick for the last two weeks with horrible symptoms. It was the kind of illness you just stay home and treat with over the counter medication. He never had a fever, but had no energy. It never crossed my mind that there may be a new illness. At that time, all that we knew was that a virus was being contained on a cruise ship. About a week later, Little AoA became ill. By this time, the panic from Covid-19 had begun to set in. I called the doctor, who told me to bring her in. When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was a big sign stating that no COVID-19 testing was being done. The doctor ruled out flu, and told me to keep her apart from the medically fragile grandparents who live with us. We spent last weekend trying to use “social distancing” in our home. It made everyone irritable and miserable. We decided that we would just be cautious outside the home, and take our chances. We planned for me to take off from work (in public schools), for a while to prevent me from accidentally bringing home an illness of any kind.

At this time, our school system was determined that school be in session until Covid-19 appeared in our schools. Teachers went to work today, anticipating a day of inservice training. As it turned out, we spent the morning preparing home packets for students. At 2:00, our mayor and school superintendent announced that school would be cancelled until April 13th.

It.Just.Got.Real.

I am beyond relieved to not have the pressure of worrying about exposing the grandparents to illnesses for a little while.

This is such a different world.

In all of this self quarantining and social distancing, we must continue to live and laugh. We must fight to keep our human connections alive. Make no mistake, my anxiety level is very high, and planning our best to keep our elders from contracting any illness has become a full time task.

I want to share some lighthearted things that made me smile and sometimes shake my head…