So. Quarantine.
We’ve been here for a while. 43 days to be exact, and we’re not going anywhere soon. We know we have at least two more months of this, but ask the Actuary how confident she is that this will be over then. Part of my actual job is to study pandemics. We’ve been doing this since before it was cool. Ask me about what happened in the fall of the 1918 flu.
Okay I’ll tell you. The 1918 flu lasted about two years, killed more people than WWI, and by far the most deadly time was during the “second wave” in the fall. See what happened was reported cases dropped off over the summer and everyone was hopeful that it was over, and they went back to gathering in large crowds. And that’s when trouble hit.
So while I’m hopeful we might get a few months this summer to breath, I am fully expecting everything to close down again in the fall. Or if not, that my family will choose to self-quarantine again in the fall.
So with that knowledge, how are things going?
We’re okay. It’s not what I wanted, but we’re doing okay. All the days seem to stretch together, which is how the “days are long, years are short” phrase happens. At the end of this year I’ll look back and wonder how it went so quickly, since it was only one day. One incredibly long day. It’s a day that more or less has a routine, and works fine, but it’s hard when there’s nothing to look forward to. And sure, I’d love to look forward to a trip, but at this point I’d settle for a visit with friends, a trip to the movies or even the local target. It’s hard when you know that nothing different in your routine is coming. You know exactly how tomorrow is going to go.
I know some people have been celebrating a different holiday each week, and I’d maybe consider that if I had more time or energy to do things like drag decorations out of the basement and redecorate my house every week. Instead we’ve had to turn to other things to look forward to. Things like daily package delivery. Even if the package only contains paper towels, that suddenly has become exciting. We’re also on flower watch. For the first time ever, I decided to plant bulbs last fall. It’s like my subconscious knew I’d need something to brighten our lives this spring. We’ve been watching them since they started to come up in March, and they’re oh so close to blooming. Don’t let me down flowers!
Or the big excitement today was getting our gutters cleaned! We watched the ladder go up and followed him from window to window as he cleaned our gutters and made funny faces at E as he climbed up and down. Anything to break up the days!
Our state of mind seems to change day by day, week by week. Sometimes things feel okay. This isn’t that hard, we’re doing okay, we’re getting the hang of it. Other days it’s very hard. Some days E has what we call “a sad day.” He’s quick to tears, he’s asking a lot of questions about his friends, he’s cuddling more. All of which are perfectly fine and normal given the circumstances, but cause us to take everything day by day.
Day by day. That’s all we can do.
