COVID-19 Social Distancing Day 3

Wednesday, March 18th, 2020

To start, this made me laugh yesterday.

As my friend Jenni so eloquently put it, “People be funny.”

Anyway, yesterday was a success as far as what I challenged myself with.  I definitely looked at the news less, stayed off social media more.  It definitely cleared my head and allowed me to focus more on being present with my kids and wife than worrying about the number of cases of COVID-19 going up.  That is inevitable, and it does me no good to anxiously watch as the numbers grow.  The only thing I can do, and we as a society can do, is to do what the scientists ask, which is to continue to socially isolate as much as possible.

I wasn’t sure when it was going to happen, but yesterday was the day.  Being inside and working on school had pushed them to the breaking point. Our kids were getting cabin fever, and so we needed to get outside.  While Kari was at work, the kids and I played several games of Lightning, took a bike ride, and played “Lebron” (like “HORSE”), “PIG”, and Jay’s favorite, “NO”.  After Kari got home, we took a walk around our neighborhood.

This is where I felt redeemed about society.  My wife and neighbor had asked the people living in our neighborhood if they would be willing to put shamrocks in their windows and our kids could do a “Shamrock Hunt” as we took a walk.  Apparently, there is a neighborhood Facebook group that only the cool kids are a part of, hence the reason I am not in it.  Seriously though, the number of people that jumped into this activity was incredible.  I believe the final number was 50 shamrocks that the kids found. Keep in mind that these are adults who did this so that our kids could have some enjoyment on St. Patrick’s day despite all the insanity.  Chalk up a win for humanity people!

Yesterday was also a HUGE reading day at our house. Last night before bed, our entire family was in the living room with our noses in our books.  In case anyone is interested here is what we are reading:

Norah (7 years old): Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep

Jay (9 years old): A Wrinkle in Time

Tessa (11 years old): Internment by Samira Ahmed

Me (Ancient): Into the Planet by Jill Heinerth

Kari (WAY younger than me): A Bigger Table by John Pavlovitz

By the way, for those of you who are reading this, thank you.  I am really enjoying reflecting on each day and thinking about how we as a family are handling this historic event.  It sounds weird to say that, but honestly, none of us have lived through something like this.  I always tell my students that each generation has their event that helps to shape who they are. Pearl Harbor, the JFK assassination, the Challenger explosion, Columbine, 9/11 among others that I am sure I am forgetting. However, rarely do those events cross borders.  Those that I listed above, with probably the exception of Pearl Harbor, are America-centric events. However, what we are experiencing now is a global event that will be cemented into the lives of the entire planet.  Except for war, has there ever been another event like this? It’s hard to wrap my mind around the scale of it.

So I won’t. I will just try to remember that as we continue on this uncharted path, even though we don’t know where we are going, that doesn’t mean we can’t look around and enjoy the scenery.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and always remember, PEOPLE CARE ABOUT YOU!