Captain’s Log 20 March 2020
I’ve decided to Blog our Self-Imposed Quarantine. I’m doing this more for our kids and one day grandchildren than anyone else. As I sit and think about this crazy time it makes me think of how I used to ask what it was like for my grandparents during WW2. This is far from a world war but, it is unprecedented. So, for my curious descendants, this is what Quarantine looks like for us in 2020.
I’m starting this after a week at home so I’ll just recap the past week or so in this first post and hopefully future posts will be shorter…
In the past month Mark and I had been getting updates from our friends in Vicenza, Italy. The situation there was nightmarish, overrun hospitals, people dying and, finally Italy called a countrywide quarantine. We could see the writing on the wall, we knew we would have to limit our time in public to help slow the spread of the novel corona virus known as COVID 19 or SARS-CoV-2.
On Wednesday 11 March 2020 the University of Illinois (where Mark is a professor) told its faculty to be prepared to switch all classes to online classes. That night President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation banning EU (Schengen) citizens from entering the United States. Mark and I stared at the TV. It was unprecedented but we understood it. We immediately went to work on finding out what this meant for travelers so we could pass on good information to our followers on YouTube and woltersworld.com. I read that dang proclamation front to back. If you haven’t read a Presidential Proclamation, it is not what I would call enjoyable reading. The boys knew about the virus and how things are in Italy though vaguely.
On Thursday both boys were sick from having eaten too much spicy Korean noodles so we let them stay home. Mark and I were thinking it was probably time to just stay home all together. We got all our information together and made a quick video to explain what the proclamation meant in layman’s terms. I wrote it in a blog citing the CDC and Department of State.
Friday, we sent the boys to school. It was the last day of school before Spring Break and the school had already sent an email saying students should take home all of their books in anticipation of a government shutdown of schools in Illinois.
While the boys were at school, we tried to have our normal Friday morning date day. We ran to Target and got a few things, new jammies for the boys, some Reese’s Eggs for me, things to make the transition less drastic, I guess. We went to Barnes and Noble because that is our date place. We got a couple of magazines for the boys, Soccer for Caleb and Science for Liam and I, as always got a new book. After, we stopped by the music store to get instruction books for guitar and drums so Mark could teach the boys at home.
We felt pretty prepared for self-quarantine. Stores had been out of toilet paper all week but we had our usual amount at home and had been grocery shopping earlier in the week. We hadn’t gone nuts and hoarded things like we were seeing in the news but we had enough for a couple three weeks which was kind of our usual. All we had to do was get the boys from school and stay home.
At pick up every child was walking out with a massive amount of stuff. I’m glad they had that day to get their things and see their friends once more before we holed up at home for some indefinite amount of time. One of Liam’s best buds asked if they could have a playdate…it kinda crushed me to say, not today, knowing it would be some time before they could play together in person again. Teachers and staff were calm but I could see there was some worry beneath their placid exteriors. That same day Governor Pritzker closed Illinois schools for 2 weeks.
That night the president banned citizens from the UK and Ireland from entering the United States. Rumors were all over social media, people were panicky. My mantra became, Be Prudent but Don’t Panic.
Saturday was, for the most part, a lazy day at home. Mark and I did a YouTube Live chat with our followers. There were a lot of questions, confusion, and some apprehension if not outright fear. People were trying to cancel flights and trips or get home from around the globe. Several people from other countries were concerned about getting home. Everyone wanted to know what this would look like for them now and in the future. Our answers came from the CDC or US State Department. We couldn’t speculate how long this would last. In our hearts we were hoping it would only be a month or so but secretly thinking it would get worse before it gets better. The boys played an inordinate amount of video games while Mark and I were researching.
Sunday, we didn’t go to church. That was weird. Instead I found a video of the Great Doxology on a Greek Orthodox YouTube page. I read the day’s readings and thought about them and about this new environment we were living in. I kept thinking; this is truly Lent. We did another Live chat that day and answered most of the same questions and assuaged the same concerns as best as we could. We decided what people really needed was some community and as we had one built in, we would set up regular Live chats on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The boys thought it was brilliant to sleep in on a Sunday. Liam did join me in listening to the Great Doxology though–he really likes to sing our old school chants at church.
Monday, we were running low on eggs and dog food. I was going to go to the store early but chickened out. Somehow, I let the media and rumors get to me, as if going out would infect me and my household. Around noon I thought, this is ridiculous. You aren’t being prudent, you’re panicking. So, I went to the store for dog food, eggs, and some rice as we were down to half a bag (we eat a lot of rice).
The store was packed. I felt the need to get other stuff because everyone was in mad shop-mode. In the end I only got what we needed plus a corned beef. So many of the shoppers were elderly, it scared me. What if they got sick? What if they couldn’t afford all this? I know social security checks come at the first of the month…it might be detrimental to our elderly on fixed incomes and that scared me more.
While I was there, I saw people wearing latex gloves and trying to put distance between themselves and others. I saw the people feverishly stocking the shelves. I told a couple of them thank you. It must be a crazy, thankless job with people pushing past to get what they need (or think they need) so desperately. Generally, no one was speaking to anyone else. It was tense. I made a few comments to people as we waited in line, the older guy with a 6-pack of beer and a loaf of bread, you’ve got your priorities in order, don’t you? I just needed to make someone laugh.
I let two people go in front of me as they only had 1 or 2 items. I thanked the guy checking my groceries and the woman bagging them. They were so appreciative. You could see they had been stressed out and we chatted amiably, I think they needed that. I think we all do.
The boys were still in no-school mode, if I heard the theme song from Johnny Test one more time my head may explode. In my mind every time the song said, Jooohny Te-eest I heard hoooly cra-aap. (Can I say that in a blog? Well, I just did.)
Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day. Usually, I would tune in to watch the parade in Savannah online. Well, there was no parade. We all wore green anyway. I started the corned beef in the morning so something would feel normal about St. Pats.
Mark and I got back to working out and started to get ourselves a routine. Tuesday, I felt more normal than any of the previous days. The new normal was beginning to set in. I thought about those 4 months I spent on bedrest (when pregnant with Liam) and how I had to have a routine to combat the blues. Getting one in order really helped.
We did a Live chat with our members and patrons from our various online communities. It was wonderful. These people are our champions. They support us with small donations every month but more that that, they are like friends we’ve never met. We had about 35 or 40 online and we all talked. Several of them have developed friendships with one another through Wolters World also. This gives me joy.
Caleb on the other hand had a rough day. He wanted to play basketball with his buddy, Josiah. He had a little meltdown when we said, no we are self-quarantining. He was angry as 13yo boys can be. He cited a lot of stuff he had read online about how is won’t hurt any of us as we are young and not at risk.
We had a hard talk about why we had decided to stay in. This virus is unknown, it doesn’t show symptoms for 2-14 days so, healthy people may actually be carrying it and spreading it unbeknownst to them. This damn thing kills the elderly and immuno-compromised. We explained that Papoo, my dad, just got over an awful case of pneumonia, and my sister is also at high risk. These are people he loves and he kinda got it.
But we also talked about how Nando and Elena and all our friends in Italy have been under quarantine for weeks. His buddy Philippo can’t go play with his friends either, he has been at home and the Italian army in the streets because the spread is so bad. We don’t want that so we are staying home now before it gets bad. We talked about how people are dying at home because the hospitals in Italy are overrun and even if they had room, they don’t have enough medical supplies for everyone.
What an awful discussion, there were some tears, some shouting, and in the end understanding and compassion.
Wednesday and Thursday Mark and I made our bed, walked and worked out while the boys slept in. It is still Spring Break so we are being lax on their schedules for now. We worked around the house, I’ve been prepping food and trying to remake dinners so we don’t have the same dish as our leftovers but a different meal. It makes me think of my Yiayia and Grandma. Both of them lived through the Great Depression and I saw the way they never let a bite of food go to waste. I inherited a love of cooking from Yiayia, I wish I had inherited my Grandma’s baking skills. I am channeling both of them as I cook for my family.
The boys were a little at each other’s throats both days. They kept apart more than usual but when they were together, they picked on each other, a lot. They have the usual squabbles but generally, they are really close and play well together but, not Wednesday and Thursday. It was frustrating. We got them moving, made them shower, and play outside when the weather was good Thursday afternoon.
Mark made each of us write 4 things we wanted to do as a family and put them in a hat. We drew papers from the hat all day and subsequently; played Jenga and poker, colored pictures to send to the elderly in our local nursing homes, Mark read 3 chapters of our current book and I made their favorite soup (Avgolemono) for dinner.
The grey skies and fluctuating temperatures are not helpful. If only it were warmer and sunny life would be easier but then, there is always ‘if only’.
So, today, Friday the 20th I am looking to the immediate future and how it will look. So far, I have decided on a schedule (pliable, as all our family schedules are) and am apparently writing this blog. Our days will consist of a walk and workouts at home, prepping meals and then school time for the boys and work time for Mark and me. I am hoping school can be done in 2-3hours so we can have some free time for art, reading, and playing. I envision a lot of family movie nights and Mark reading to us as usual but maybe a little more than the usual amount of time.
The boys are back to their usual selves today, playing and laughing together, thank God!
I am a little trepidatious about the immediate future. I have a feeling if more people don’t take this social distancing and staying home thing seriously, we will have to do it longer or the government will make us.
Until tomorrow…
Jocelyn