The isolated life.
It's been almost 6 years exactly since I have written in this blog. It seems so strange to do it now. But with current events, I felt a strong desire to document our lives...and the pithy, short posts so common on social media don't seem appropriate.
In January, some news stories began to break about localized cases of a novel virus in Wuhan Provence, China. Most of the world barely paid attention to these news stories--China seemed so far away, and after the hyped news stories of the swine flu and the bird flu never materialized into significant, life-changing events for most Americans, I think we all just rolled our eyes and continued on with our lives.
In the coming weeks, however, the frequency and urgency of these news stories began to increase. The death toll began to rise exponentially. Countries began scrambling to close borders and limit travel from China, but by this point, neighboring countries, like South Korea, were also beginning to report cases. Physicians from the WHO began warning people that this could become serious, but these warnings generally fell on deaf ears. Just wash your hands. It's not a big deal. The seasonal flu is more dangerous. You people are just paranoid. Most Americans continued to ignore the warnings, bought a little extra soap and hand sanitizer, and went about their lives.
But then Italy began reporting massive increases in cases. France, too. Then Iran and Isreal and Spain. Then the number of cases in the US began to rise. Cruise ships with thousands of passengers were quarantined. The WHO declared the virus a pandemic. And then, things really began to change.
People began to panic buy and hoard supplies like soap, hand sanitizer, masks, and cleaning solution. Weirdly, the also bought up things like toilet paper and paper towels and bottled water in masses. (Why is still a mystery--the stores have plenty, the supplies are plentiful, but people are panicked and hoarding. We just bought a bidet and moved on.). Italy took an unprecedented step and shut down its entire country, effectively closing every business and shop except for essentials like groceries, their entire population quarantined to their homes. Many other cities and nations began following suit, placing heavy restrictions on travel and movement on their people.
In the past few days, the number of cases here in Florida, where we currently reside, has doubled approximately every 24-36 hours. The death rate is climbing. Schools have closed until the 15th of April--and administrators are tight-lipped on whether that will even be sufficient. In some cities, governors have already canceled school for the remainder of the school year, instead pushing teachers to quickly convert their classes to online/distance learning models. The Department of Defense issued a stop-movement order, basically disrupting all TDY and PCS moves around the world. No travel, no moves, and staff are being transitioned to staggered, half-force work arrangements (one day on, one day off).
Due to my lupus and my primary immune deficiency, our family has been one the earlier adopters to social distancing--that's the term of the day these days. No leaving the house or going out except for essentials (like grocery shopping). All appointments and activities are canceled. I am working from home and Brad is currently staying home as well (his Army office is still trying to figure out what to do with him since he has an immune-compromised wife at home).
So far, all of us are coping well. Brad is most likely to go stir-crazy of all of us--he's an extrovert through-and-through, and can't stand being still. However, he's spending a lot of time running, hiking, fishing, working in the yard, and tackling the house projects we're behind on.
The kids are taking it in stride. They aren't happy about having to avoid friends and stay home all day, but they are dealing with it. I guess the years of homeschooling have taught them to be fine with being in our home a lot. They each have a couple of friends that are also being extremely careful with contacts that they are allowed to see, so they aren't entirely alone. And both are learning to use technology to chat with friends and reach out.
We have been enjoying our family time together. Lots of board games, puzzles, cards, movie nights, and hours laughing at ridiculous YouTube videos. There have been dance parties and family yoga in the living room. We had a cereal smorgasbord the other day for dinner (which turned into a reactive hypoglycemic episode for mom, so maybe that one was a bad idea, lol). But we are trying to make the best of our time together.
Today, the kids in our neighborhood all went outside to decorate their respective sidewalks and driveways, so that those out walking dogs or getting fresh air could see all of the colorful drawings. Aubrey enjoyed the time outside, creating an encouraging, silly scene that only she could come up with.
And me? Well, today I enjoyed the first day off from work I've had in a long while. In February, I took over the Communications Director position at our church, Centerpoint Church. As you can imagine, being the director of communications responsible for communicating all of these changes (like suspending church services and moving things online and creating new prayer gatherings and experiences for people in their living room) has been a huge undertaking. There were some really long days in there, but I am blessed to work with a wonderful, tight-knit team of people, and together we have tackled this season with grace and creativity. It's been inspiring to witness.
So now, I'm about to head inside. To cook dinner with my family and cherish these simple moments of health and prosperity. Things may be uncertain outside our door, and who knows what the near future will hold, especially when you peer across the sea to our neighbors in Italy who are in the throes of this disease. But for today, we are well. We are safe. We are together. And that is enough.
In January, some news stories began to break about localized cases of a novel virus in Wuhan Provence, China. Most of the world barely paid attention to these news stories--China seemed so far away, and after the hyped news stories of the swine flu and the bird flu never materialized into significant, life-changing events for most Americans, I think we all just rolled our eyes and continued on with our lives.
In the coming weeks, however, the frequency and urgency of these news stories began to increase. The death toll began to rise exponentially. Countries began scrambling to close borders and limit travel from China, but by this point, neighboring countries, like South Korea, were also beginning to report cases. Physicians from the WHO began warning people that this could become serious, but these warnings generally fell on deaf ears. Just wash your hands. It's not a big deal. The seasonal flu is more dangerous. You people are just paranoid. Most Americans continued to ignore the warnings, bought a little extra soap and hand sanitizer, and went about their lives.
But then Italy began reporting massive increases in cases. France, too. Then Iran and Isreal and Spain. Then the number of cases in the US began to rise. Cruise ships with thousands of passengers were quarantined. The WHO declared the virus a pandemic. And then, things really began to change.
People began to panic buy and hoard supplies like soap, hand sanitizer, masks, and cleaning solution. Weirdly, the also bought up things like toilet paper and paper towels and bottled water in masses. (Why is still a mystery--the stores have plenty, the supplies are plentiful, but people are panicked and hoarding. We just bought a bidet and moved on.). Italy took an unprecedented step and shut down its entire country, effectively closing every business and shop except for essentials like groceries, their entire population quarantined to their homes. Many other cities and nations began following suit, placing heavy restrictions on travel and movement on their people.
In the past few days, the number of cases here in Florida, where we currently reside, has doubled approximately every 24-36 hours. The death rate is climbing. Schools have closed until the 15th of April--and administrators are tight-lipped on whether that will even be sufficient. In some cities, governors have already canceled school for the remainder of the school year, instead pushing teachers to quickly convert their classes to online/distance learning models. The Department of Defense issued a stop-movement order, basically disrupting all TDY and PCS moves around the world. No travel, no moves, and staff are being transitioned to staggered, half-force work arrangements (one day on, one day off).
Due to my lupus and my primary immune deficiency, our family has been one the earlier adopters to social distancing--that's the term of the day these days. No leaving the house or going out except for essentials (like grocery shopping). All appointments and activities are canceled. I am working from home and Brad is currently staying home as well (his Army office is still trying to figure out what to do with him since he has an immune-compromised wife at home).
So far, all of us are coping well. Brad is most likely to go stir-crazy of all of us--he's an extrovert through-and-through, and can't stand being still. However, he's spending a lot of time running, hiking, fishing, working in the yard, and tackling the house projects we're behind on.
The kids are taking it in stride. They aren't happy about having to avoid friends and stay home all day, but they are dealing with it. I guess the years of homeschooling have taught them to be fine with being in our home a lot. They each have a couple of friends that are also being extremely careful with contacts that they are allowed to see, so they aren't entirely alone. And both are learning to use technology to chat with friends and reach out.
We have been enjoying our family time together. Lots of board games, puzzles, cards, movie nights, and hours laughing at ridiculous YouTube videos. There have been dance parties and family yoga in the living room. We had a cereal smorgasbord the other day for dinner (which turned into a reactive hypoglycemic episode for mom, so maybe that one was a bad idea, lol). But we are trying to make the best of our time together.
Today, the kids in our neighborhood all went outside to decorate their respective sidewalks and driveways, so that those out walking dogs or getting fresh air could see all of the colorful drawings. Aubrey enjoyed the time outside, creating an encouraging, silly scene that only she could come up with.
And me? Well, today I enjoyed the first day off from work I've had in a long while. In February, I took over the Communications Director position at our church, Centerpoint Church. As you can imagine, being the director of communications responsible for communicating all of these changes (like suspending church services and moving things online and creating new prayer gatherings and experiences for people in their living room) has been a huge undertaking. There were some really long days in there, but I am blessed to work with a wonderful, tight-knit team of people, and together we have tackled this season with grace and creativity. It's been inspiring to witness.
So now, I'm about to head inside. To cook dinner with my family and cherish these simple moments of health and prosperity. Things may be uncertain outside our door, and who knows what the near future will hold, especially when you peer across the sea to our neighbors in Italy who are in the throes of this disease. But for today, we are well. We are safe. We are together. And that is enough.
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