Pandemic!

To be honest, we should have seen this coming. I mean, technically lots of people saw this coming, but I really didn't think the whole country would be shutting down when I walked Nora to school on March 11th. But that night we found out that her upcoming overnight(s) field trip to Hard Bargain Farm was cancelled. And then the next day they canceled "Battle of the Books." And then they announced that a previously scheduled Professional Development Day would be moved from Friday the 20th to Monday the 16th. By the 14th, we learned that we were instead starting Spring Break immediately followed by two weeks of distance learning (which has now turned into at least six weeks).

So we invited ourselves to Aunt Katherine's so that kids could do yard work and co-sleep framing it as an alternative to Nora's field trip. While there we played Pandemic (and won though we also sort of cheated so I'm not sure what that means for our nation) and participated in the now remote SWS school auction before heading back to DC for work on Monday (leaving the kids behind), only to then find out that telework was strongly encouraged and our bosses did not want us to show up. The kids returned on Tuesday in order to start their remote music lessons and print out their distance learning packets. We've been social distancing ever since.



The first week has been ok. The kids were technically on Spring Break, so while we encouraged Owen to do some school work and discussed his schedule for next week, we didn't overly dwell on it. I have largely adopted our bedroom for my workspace while Allen uses the dining room, Owen uses his room and Nora is a bit of a floater. We tried to repurpose lunch break for "recess" so on Wednesday the kids and I played tennis at the rec center and on Thursday we went there for soccer (they've subsequently announced they'll be closed as well, so next week should be interesting...). We've alternated between supporting local businesses through take-out and cooking at home. Allen has been trying to work in a daily bike ride while I get in a walk, Nora has joined me on occasion for yoga and Owen is trying to get the whole family to partake in his climbing class workouts. There are lots of snack breaks, some baking breaks, the occasional nap and a couple of virtual happy hours with family and friends featuring aronia berries (we have lots of them if anyone is interested and if you add a lot of sugar and gin, they're quite lovely...).

We told our cleaning lady to stay home (with pay) and so on Saturday the kids learned how to clean toilets. We also went on an extended bike ride during which I lost my DC Real ID card (which I didn't realize until we returned home). I was pretty upset so Allen offered to go back and search for it, but was unable to find it. But shortly after he returned, I discovered that a guardian angel had actual dropped it off at our mailbox hours before we'd even gotten home.

And so that is the lesson of this first Pandemic week: even though this is a scary and isolating time, there are really good people out there that are willing to go out of their way to help you out. And if we all step up likewise, we might just make it through until whenever this is over.



(click here for all the pictures)