How are we managing during the COVID19 quarantine?
Fine. We are just fine.
We have been extremely fortunate during this unprecedented time. As a teacher, I have been able to switch my work to home. It certainly isn’t the same as being in the room with my students, but it’s enabling me to keep working and receiving a paycheck. Jim’s work went from full to part-time, doing only essential jobs, but he was finally able to get through to the unemployment agency this week to make up for the lost income.
We have some savings if we need it, and being forced to stay home has cut down on some of our expenses, like daycare and gas. We are extremely thankful we do not have the economic and health worries many are having at this time. That is not to say the long-term effects to the economy won’t hit us down the road, but for now we are not worrying about how we will pay our bills or feed our family.
Like I said, we are fine.
We have taken social distancing pretty seriously. The only times we have left our property has been for one of us to go to the grocery store or pick up take out and for a few bike rides. We have walked around our neighborhood, which is spread out enough that we don’t come into direct contact with our neighbors. We haven’t seen family or friends, apart from video chats. We are all healthy, although we do personally know people in the area who have gotten the virus, one of whom passed away.
So, what have we been doing? All the things we have always meant to do but never seemed to have the time:
We’ve been getting outside as safely as possible.
We’ve played numerous board games:
We’ve been eating A LOT:
We’ve been going to school, work, and church online:
And, of course, there has been some drinking:
As we acclimate to this new type of living, we’ve come to appreciate the small things and the time we’ve had together. We hope it ends as soon as possible, but I we also hope we can look back at this time as a brief gift to our family.