Corona Chronicles: Missive 2
Well, today, day two of At Home With Everyone, Hiding Out From Corona, was trying. For instance, we were trying to dial into every conference call on time, trying to login to each Zoom meeting, trying to keep all the other kids quiet while the kids in "class" got to learn, and yeah. For the most part, trying was as far as we got.
Dear Dad was home today, as more and more services and industries shut down here, and you'd think that would make managing all the kids easier. WRONG! That just gave them two sites to go to to ask, "But can I watch YouTube? Can I have a snack? Can I have another snack? Can I color? On the walls? Well Mommy said yes. Yes-huh she did! Ok, I will go ask her!" Great, and now we're back to me.
So I decided to venture from the realm of the chaos to the realm of the unreal and headed to the supermarket. This was an odd experience. The parking lot was not crowded, but there was a line out the door because the store was keeping a limit on the total number of people inside at one time. Extreme distancing? I guess, unless you were bunched up on the line waiting to get in (which I was), crowded in the narrow aisles of the produce department (which I was), angling for a shot at whatever the guys in the meat department were bringing out on their trolley (which I was), or bunched up on the line at the front of the store, waiting to pay and get out (which I was). It's always encouraging when the cashier leans back as she slides every one of your items across the register and still can't manage to get more than a good 2 and 1/2 feet away from your face. It's okay, lady, I've basically been holding my breath the entire time I've been in here and that is why I'm coughing and look rather unwell. (You know, not the other thing.)
It's so weird. We are supposed to stay away from each other, except for when we need essentials, but when we go to get them, everyone is right next to each other like normal, except it's not normal, not when my brother, who came to drop off something at my house and whose son has a fever, yells, "you stay away from me!!!" when he sees my over-65 mother, who has come to visit after hitting all the stores on these days off like it's Black Friday without the crowds. Maybe when you've lived through those useless under-the-desk nuclear drills as a child, this "social distancing" business seems kinda pointless too. Except for when it's not, like when we find out a friend's youthful 70 year-old father is in the hospital in serious condition. So now my mom is staying home, trying to follow the advice of the experts, and trying not to go nuts in her two-bedroom co-op.
Here at home we're trying too. More trying tomorrow...hopefully some succeeding.
Good luck, good night, and good health.
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