So today’s post is looking back on Sunday which, if I’m to be honest, was gloriously uneventful. I mean that in the best possible way. We had a nice day on Saturday that included a lovely walk, a playground visit and lots of family fun. Sunday was very much the same. Also a nice walk, also some good family time together.
I came to realize that so in the moment was I, that much to my surprise I didn’t take any photos on Sunday. So when it came time to write today’s post…I got nothing! Nothing but fond memories of a pleasant weekend in family quarantine.
Without much to say in the usual “day in the life” vein, I thought I might take a few minutes to try to stand back and take a look at where we are.
This year has been unbelievably strange, challenging and just plain hard. But what it has been most of all is unexpected. It’s hard to imagine talking to myself from a year ago and even attempt to explain the world we live in right now.
I was thinking about fun time we had together this weekend, and all we’ve done to make the best of the situation we’ve been faced with this year. We’ve normalized the restrictions like wearing masks, washing hands and using hand sanitizers all the time. We all automatically keep our distance from people as a general rule.
It feels al title bit like the old frog in the boiling water analogy. If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it’ll say “YIKES!” and jump out. If the frog is already in the water when it’s cold, and it slowly comes to a boil, the frog doesn’t notice it’s getting hotter. It adjusts along with the temperature change.
On the side, I’ve been working on a book incorporating elements of this blog to try to offer a snapshot of life in this time. It has been kind of strange looking back at my posts from the early days, now more than 2oo days ago, and then take stock of where things are now.
At the beginning, the onset of this pandemic was like a horror movie. We saw other countries suffering and had the sinking feeling of those horrifying images coming to our shores, too. Not that many people actually had COVID yet, and we all lived in terror of getting it. So little was known about the virus, how it spread, and what can happen if you get it.
Now, we’ve gone through a couple of waves, spikes and valleys, and I doubt there is anyone who doesn’t know somebody who has or has had COVID. It’s everywhere now. We still don’t know that much about its long term affects. And while I think some people have come to take it less seriously because they know people who have gotten it and recover, I can’t help but see the fact that there seems to be little rhyme or reason to how it impacts people. Some healthy people get extremely sick and die. Some who are much less healthy are barely affected.
I’m thinking of all this for a couple of reasons. First, because I have been looking back to those early day and noticing how different things feel now than when I started. And secondly, because the very real fact is that we are entering a very dangerous time. And we’re entering this time distracted, exhausted, numb or all of the above.
Case loads are spiking all around the country. Hospitalizations are at a record high. The positivity rate nationwide is about 50 percent higher than it was just a few weeks ago. I read the other day that in my home state of Wisconsin, which is experiencing one of the worst outbreaks in the nation, the positivity rate is over 30 percent.
We just got an email from our local school district, announcing that they are going back to online learning for all students. The county we live in has had a 900 percent increase in cases since early September. Sadly, this is not an uncommon story. It’s the situation in most parts of the country, but in many ways, people seem kind of nonplussed about it.
I get it, it’s exhausting. It sucks. I’m tired of it, and I’m especially tired of explaining to my kids to the millionth time why they can’t do the things they want to do. But unfortunately, COVID is not tired of us. It doesn’t much care about how much we care.
So as I stand here at day 237, I am keenly aware of the fact that we have both come very far forward and very far backward. For myself, and for my family, I do feel proud of how we have been able to adapt. We still have fun, we still find joy. We do our very best to keep ourselves safe, But the world around us is just as scary as it was in March.
Never could I have imagined at the very beginning that we’d be here now. I don’t think I allowed myself to think beyond a few weeks. We worked hard for a few weeks to bend the curve, and then we just let it unbend in a really big way.
I still have hope, and I know we will make it through this time, but now without losing a lot more people along the way. If you’re a regular reader and saying, “Geez, what’s with all the bummer stuff? Didn’t Henry do anything cute yesterday?” The answer is, well of course he did. He calls Tootsie Rolls, “Tootisie Rules,” and that’s really adorable.
The reason I’m writing this is that I want everyone to take a moment and remember that COVID is still very, very much out there. We are under quarantine because of close encounter with it. No matter where you life, cases are going up. I am personally aware of several people who have been diagnosed in just the past few days.
So please respect the virus and stay safe out there. We will get through this, but we’re not there yet. Please wear a mask in public, and follow the usual safety protocols. You can still live and find joy, like we do, but you need to do it a little different for a little while longer.
