Pandemic Letters Between Friends

What day is it? Today is Saturday. It is easy to forget that anything is going on outside our little bubble at home and the days are beginning to blur because the markers are removed. There is no Mass to attend on Sunday, no piano on Monday, no art on Tuesday... DH is home, occasionally attending a virtual meeting, teaching a music lesson through zoom, or organizing his plans for switching fully to "distance" teaching. The children reminded me this morning it was Saturday. It is an important day for them - the day of the week that they are allowed to play video games. I can almost forget, except that when I go to pick up the flea and tick protection for our new dog (the dog we decided to foster to help out the city shelters, but that is now our dog for keeps) I have to call in my payment over the phone and alert the receptionist that I am outside the building ready to pick up. I can almost forget, except when I go into Aldi to grab another 12 lbs of apples for my children...

A Prayer for The Coronavirus Pandemic Here is a prayer that was shared by a friend on Facebook, originally posted by "George L Livanos." We have been praying this prayer daily, perhaps you would like to also. Let us offer this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus Christ our God, You traveled through towns and villages "curing every disease and illness." At Your command, the sick were made well. Come to our aid now, in the midst of the global spread of the coronavirus, that we may experience Your healing love. Heal those, O Lord, who are sick with the virus. May they regain their strength and health through quality medical care. Heal us from our fears, which prevents nations from working together and neighbors from helping one another. Heal us from our pride, which can make us claim invulnerability to a disease that knows no borders. Lord Jesus Christ, healer of all and physician of our souls and bodies, stay by o...

I started journaling on Saturday, March 14, when I realized the historic moment we were going to live though, and that I was going to have some trouble managing my anxiety as we lived through it. I will go back and work on posting some of the more interesting excerpts from my journal, starting with the first day, March 14th. My son Jay (pseudonym) was scheduled to have cataract surgery on March 17th. I wanted him to be healthy for his surgery, so I decided to keep us home from Monday, March 9th until the surgery. I recognized from the news that if the surgery was postponed due to illness, it could be months before it was rescheduled. We went grocery shopping Monday, the store was normal, except for no hand sanitizer. The kids and I were quarantined from Monday on. Easy for homeschoolers. On Tuesday night, I canceled the small birthday party I had planned for Jay on Saturday afternoon (Pi Day - 3/14). On Wednesday, March 11th, Delaware had it's first COVID-19 case, at the Univer...

So here we are, trying to navigate life under a pandemic.  My kids have been off of school since March 6.  Luckily we were able to spend a week in Florida.  Self distancing there was so easy because of camping.  The beach was empty and by the end of the week so was the campground.  We've been limping along here with a couple different grocery options, but I miss being able to just stop at the store for a missing ingredient whenever I want.  Honestly, that's probably the hardest thing for me.  We have been completely self quarantined since coming home on Sunday. The kids have been going stir crazy and today is finally a beautiful spring day here in Tennessee.  At the moment it is sunny and 76 degrees.  I got so excited about the beautiful day that I forgot that just two days we had flash flood warnings in the area.  You'll see why that's an important detail in a minute. I decided we were going to drive to our closest state park, Henry...

Everything is still so uncertain in the world, but I am hoping that a little correspondence between friends will help us cope and maintain perspective. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to effect our lives and livelihoods, we are having shared but separate experiences. Yesterday, DH (Dear Husband) and I continued work on a little patch of land to the north of our property that will be our new vegetable garden. We have never had much gardening success in the past, but considering we have so much time to weed and tend this spring, this may be our year! The ground is covered in Texas native grass and weeds and they are extremely difficult to clear. My hands have been aching from pulling weeds. We have a small electric tiller that is helpful, but the largest grass roots need to be removed before it will work the ground well. So far, we are planting Early Girl tomatoes, bush beans, strawberries, and acorn squash. In our county, there is not a shelter in place order yet, but non-essenti...