Can I just muse for a while on “Life in the time of the Coronavirus?” These are my random, late night, not-very-insightful thoughts…
We’re living through an historic moment! I am finding it surreal. It’s been a little hard for me to really grasp the extent of what is happening – and maybe that’s true for a lot of people. This new phrase – “social distancing” for example: staying at least 2m away from other people. It’s like something out of a science fiction novel!
I know there are so many who are experiencing immediate hardship, even without contracting the virus. Their jobs are gone, overnight – bar tenders, restaurant employees, day cares, non-grocery retail stores, it’s shocking the system. We’re not prepared for this. Most people don’t have a financial cushion to withstand unexpected time without work. What can be done? And then, when we need it most, our churches must close their doors. Even our St. Vincent de Paul pantry, in a time of critical need, had to close it’s doors.
Then there are the crazed hoarders emptying the grocery store shelves and putting the needy at increased risk. Shameful, just shameful. My hope is that many who lost their mind and overbought will think better of it once they calm down, and help to distribute those goods to others who have need. It’s never too late to do the right thing.
I haven’t even set foot in a store since before the “Great TP Wipeout” began, so I haven’t personally witnessed the empty shelves, other than seeing my friend’s remarkable Instagram shares. I had shopped a couple of weeks ago and since I know how to buy for a month for a big family, I think we’ll be fine riding it out until the stores are restocked and everyone has regained their senses and is back to shopping normally. Nonetheless, I’ve cautioned the troops to be judicious with their hygiene product usage – there are no guarantees as to when the family supply will be replenished!
I hope those who are suddenly out of work can find interim employment with some of the places that are hiring, such as grocery stores, Amazon.com if they are in your area (they’re big here), driving for delivery services like Uber Eats, etc. I’m really praying for all of you.
Paul is working at a start-up again, and we’re thankful he’s able to work from home during this time. Of course there are challenges with trying to work in a household with seven hyperactive children under the age of 13, but we count our blessings every single day that he’s employed, believe me. I read this article today from The American Mind, and I wonder what the world will look like a year from now. What will we have gone through by then when we look back on today? What will we have learned, how will we have adapted?
Since we’re still observing a relaxed, spring break schedule, there’s no intensive homeschooling going on at the moment here. One thing I’ve been insisting one is that the kids get some exercise – outdoors unless it’s absolutely too rainy to do so. Between rainfalls the other day, we scootered around the neighborhood a little bit, observing the social distancing as we went.
Today we had some fun with a “science project” of sorts. I let each of the kids make their own batch of play dough, and they got to pick their color and whatever essential oils they wanted to add to their dough, and man. The house smelled so incredible!!
After the play dough was all made and cleaned up, we went to the McDonald’s drive-through at 83rd and Glendale, where they absolutely outdid themselves with speed of service. Never have I had such a quick turn around ordering for a family of 10 in the drive-through – without even having to pull around and park in front as I have to do 95% of the time! Well done, McDonald’s peeps! With our hot bags of burgers in hand, we drove over to Hero’s park and ate lunch and let the kids run around getting some energy out and soaking in a little vitamin D in the process.
Back at home, I took a nap while the kids veg’d out with the tv for a while, and so I missed when Mark came over to see them. He couldn’t make it to Ellie’s birthday party so he wanted to bring her some little gifts, which she of course loved.
It was a good day. I hope you are well and finding ways to cope and destress in this stressful time. Thank you Lord for the internet and ways to keep in touch while we shelter at home. And since I began this post on March 19th, Happy Feast of St. Joseph! St. Joseph, pray for us.
