Captain’s Log 21 April 2020
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Today I feel human again. I feel alive, like all my synapses are firing at full capacity! I have so much to say. Yesterday was the best quarantine day, to date but, past week was the most hectic to date. However, when you have ADD and all your synapses are firing fully that means all that information comes out all tangled so, I will try to get it in order for you and share the most amazing week we have had in quarantine.
Yesterday may have been the best quarantine day yet but, the last week has been nuts (that is why I haven’t posted in a week). So to begin with, Mark did this crazy Marketing Marathon last Tuesday. He taught his entire semester-long Principles of Marketing course in one day to raise money for the Emergency Deans Fund to aid students at his university. It was 15h and 43m of lecturing live on YouTube. It was nuts. It was wonderful.
But it was all for a good cause, and raised over $1600 for students in need.
Mark had people from around the world logging in, some even stayed on the entire session! YouTube put it on their home page—which pushed more people to watch, especially trolls. It was hilarious, Mark and his viewers would put the trolls in their place saying, put your money where your mouth is. A few actually donated or stayed on to watch. We have trusted followers who moderate our Live chats, they did an amazing job that day. I helped a bit so our Mods could do their daily stuff too. I also made Mark lunch and dinner, supplied snacks and drinks (lots of hot tea for his voice and caffeine to stay awake). I chatted with viewers when Mark had to take toilet breaks too.
The best part of the marathon was that over $1600 was donated by these wonderful people. Right now, given the economic climate, there are more students who have emergent needs. There are also less people who are able to donate. The fact that so many gave speaks volumes to me. People really do pull together when needed.
Last week was also Holy Week for me as a Greek Orthodox. Normally, that would mean at least daily liturgy of some sort. I was trepidatious about having the most important week of the church online. I have to say, though I don’t want to do it again there were some beautiful things about it.
I was able to explain a lot to the boys about what things meant during the different liturgies and why we did them. Usually, when they have questions during church, I have to put them off until later and half the time we forget to address them. When church is on a laptop in your living room you can answer those questions in full without disrupting anyone else, which is brilliant.
The Easter Vigil is my absolute favorite moment of the church year. It is so beautiful with so much meaning and deep emotion. It is also rather long and late at night which makes it difficult with children. Liam was so in tune this year. Maybe because he could wear his comfy clothes (aka pajamas) and wander as needed during the 2+ hour service. It was sad, not being with everyone, celebrating in our own homes. It was wonderful being online with people around the country, celebrating with people we would otherwise not see.
We watched the liturgy with dim lights as the first half of the service is conducted in almost complete darkness. At one point Father comes out with a lit candle to share with the church symbolizing Christ rising from the dead. It is a powerful, beautiful moment as we share that light with the people around us. I had candles at the ready and we sat there with them lit for the rest of the service. For the first time ever, my kids didn’t intentionally spill the wax on their fingers and make ‘wax fingerprints’. Liam asked that we go outside and sing just like we do at church so, we did. I am glad we went out in the cold night and sang Christ is Risen to our neighborhood. I missed hearing the choir sing it in their lovely voices but, I loved hearing my sweet sons voice singing what our church has sung for 2000 years. In all, it was a dichotomy. There were silver linings and it was lovely but, next year I want to be in the church not online with the church.
A big chunk of last week was spent working on something that has been on Mark and my minds a lot in the past 40 days. We see the economic downturn happening in our online business. It won’t affect us greatly as it is only what pays for our travel, Mark has another job. However, there are so many musicians, artists, churches, dancers, creators, restaurant employees, hairdressers and many more that have been cut off from most or all income right now. It has weighed heavily on us as we have friends who work in every one of those professions (and many more who are in jeopardy) so we have been looking for a way to help.
We launched Pause for the World, last week. It is an initiative that allows organizations, small businesses, the self-employed, or those who work in those jeopardized professions to earn money. The concept is simple. Pause for the World is an online store that sells a bevy of fun, quirky logo’d t-shirts, hoodies and sweats. When a business signs up on the website, they get a referral code/link to distribute among customers, friends, and family. Each item sold through their referral earns them $10. They get paid through PayPal weekly. That is it. I told you it was simple. Mark and I have designated any sales without referrals to benefit our local Meals on Wheels. I wish it would go viral so loads of hurting people and businesses could profit from it.
Liam turned 9 yesterday. At the beginning of quarantine, he cried one night lamenting not having a birthday party with his friends or his family. He said he thought he wouldn’t get any presents or see anyone. Well, we were forethinking when the idea of quarantine loomed. We don’t do a lot of presents; our priority is giving our kids the gift of travel but they do get a few gifts. Before SIP began, we went to Barnes and Noble and got him a Lego set and a terrarium kit for carnivorous plants. I ordered a throwback 80’s game for Caleb to gift his brother a few weeks ago too. Liam’s face when he saw those wrapped presents sitting at the breakfast table was a beautiful sight.
I sent out an invitation to a surprise drive-by birthday party about a week ago and almost two dozen families came to celebrate Liam ‘with’ us. Some came with signs, one with a bullhorn and another blowing bubbles. It was like a parade in his honor.
He received several phone calls, video calls, and even a Zoom meeting just for him. People from around the world called him or sent messages—they made Liam’s 9th Birthday one to remember always. At the end of the night I asked if it had been a good day. He replied, it was GREAT! So, so much better than I expected.
So yesterday was the best quarantine day we’ve had. A few of those people who drove by stopped to talk, 6-8ft apart of course. The kids managed to play some game of their own making by running far away from one another in some sort of race but where neither is next to nor near the other. It made me laugh to see these new games pop up out of this odd necessity. It was a little sad to see the kids back up when another came too close—how they have adjusted to that is beyond me. But no one had hurt feelings, not one kid got closer than 6ft, actually, they were definitely further apart than that as they do not recognize spatial distances so 6ft to them is more like 8-10ft.
We adults stood and talked across a 6-8foot invisible wall. And while that should make me sad, it didn’t. I was elated to have a face to face conversation with friends minus a screen. Only a few people had left their houses in the last month and at that, only for groceries. I thought for sure there would be some social awkwardness but there wasn’t. There was just this deep need to see people; to share some of portion of our lives with one another.
Everyone misses friends—no, check that, this isn’t missing others, it is Saudades. Saudades is a Portuguese word that more or less means, a deep and sad longing, one that touches your inner self. We are all experiencing this soul-wrenching longing for companionship, for time spent with loved ones, for our normal lives. But give us 5 minutes of standing across the street from one another to talk and that Saudades is quelled enough to call the day the best day of quarantine.
The day ended with a massive amount of handwashing—as if the germs could make great leaps of space, but, just in case…
Until next time,
Jocelyn