Mar 31, 20203 min read

Coronavirus Update - Day 16 and Counting...

Weekends now feel different than weekdays. When this lockdown (otherwise known as shelter in place) first started, all the days blended together. But after our first full school week, we were actually relieved it was the weekend, so we could be locked in the house and not do schoolwork. It’s all relative these days, isn’t it? I made the kids pancakes this morning, which made them giddy. Don’t tell them, but I did it so that they would let me escape for my hour hall pass to take my walk of solitude. In real life, I don’t walk on the weekends (only the weekdays) because I don’t feel like a caged animal. However, in this armageddon-like existence in which we all now exist, I have to get out everyday and find some peace or, well, you know…..I may go postal. I had a list of activities for today, some fun (art classes online, riding bikes, decorating the house for Easter, etc.) and some not-so-fun (laundry, cleaning the house, doing speech therapy exercises with Catherine, etc.). We got through about half of them, so we’ll take up with that list again tomorrow. We were stuck in the house (wait a minute we weren’t stuck in the house because in actuality we are metaphorically locked in the house) waiting for the Direct TV repair man to come. One of the positive aspects of being on lockdown is that it is so much easier to schedule those appointments, when you cannot leave your home. When things were normal, I would call and they’d ask me which day was best to sit at home endlessly waiting for one of their repair guys to arrive. I would hem and haw, trying to figure out which day I wanted to be held hostage, watching the clock and getting annoyed. Now I am a hostage everyday, so making that appointment was so easy. I spoke with the Direct TV customer service representative last evening, who was under house arrest in her own home in Oklahoma. She asked which day and time would be best and it was so liberating to say, “Oh anytime is fine with us — we aren’t going anywhere.” Some things really are easier now, aren’t they? We did a variety of things to keep ourselves occupied while waiting for the Direct TV man (see photos below for more details). His window was from 12-4 and he arrived at 3:50. In real life, that would have warranted a call from me complaining, but not today. I didn’t care one bit if he came from 12 to 4 or 8 to 5 or 12 to 12 for that matter. It’s all the same to me. His arrival created a big hoopla in the house. When the doorbell rang, I screamed (literally) at everyone to stay locked in the family room and not come out under any circumstances. I then went to the door to greet him and discuss how this was all going to work. He had on his obligatory Covid 19 mask and gloves. He told me that he would be coming in, but that his partner would remain in the truck, unless he needed him, in order to minimize untested strangers being in the house. I let him in and we stood 6 feet apart from each other while we discussed the inconvenience of one of my TV’s not working properly. I explained that when you are locked in your home with 4 kids, for what will probably be years, you really need your TVs to work properly. He obligingly agreed. Admittedly, it was very strange to practice social distancing with someone inside my own home, but I think we managed okay. He ended up needing his partner after all, since the repair was more expensive than he had originally predicted, but they spent most of the time outside so I wasn’t too freaked out. Thankfully they got the job done and we now have 3 working TVs in addition to the 5 computers. To hell with screen time limits, I say! We are officially all set to be locked down in this house for the next 5 years! More to come…….