What to do

Friday

With the Covid19 pandemic spreading, we had to think about the greater good.

Personally, I’m not that worried about it, but there are many vulnerable people out there who could be in danger, so when we found out we might be infected, we made the decision to err on the safe side and self-quarantine to help slow the spread of the virus.

In truth, we don’t quite know if we’re sick (only suspect we might have been exposed), but we need to isolate ourselves for 14 days to see if we manifest any symptoms.

Now, being me, I’m going to document this whole quarantine… no wait, let’s call it our ‘retreat’. Retreat sound better. Less zombie-apocalypse-ish.

But yea, so, no work. No eating at restaurants. No visits with friends. No D&D or The-Youngest touching literally everything in a store. It’s the four of us in one house for 2 weeks.

I give it 50/50 that someone’ll be murdered. Especially someone who plays the drums at 6am.

So, how did it go?

Well, Friday wasn’t the first day, (it was actually the third), but it was the first day that we really took stock of what we had to do (that is to say, become hermits.)

It was a stressful day, but not in the way I thought it would be. Instead, the stress came for how much work it was to disentangle ourselves from the world. Haircuts had to get cut. Doctor’s appointments had to be unappointed. Family had to be familiarized with what we were doing.

And of course, work had to be told. But since this whole pandemic thing is new to everyone, work needed The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World to consult her doctor, and HE told her that if she suspects, then we needed to isolate ourselves for 14 days.

But then, after those 14 days, to go BACK to work, The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World will need to PROVE she’s not sick.

Good lord.

Crazy times.

Check out this video if you want to see crazy

By the time the day had begun, the last games of hockey had been canceled, all the upcoming concerts had been canceled and toilet paper hoarded for some reason that invites only mockery and clever memes.

Crazy times indeed.

A part of the day was spent adjusting to this reality. The-Youngest jumped up and down in glee when he found out he didn’t have to go to school (along with a lot of other kids) and didn’t seem at all concerned that he would have to stay indoors as long as there was internet and a warmed-up Xbox.

The-Oldest, despite his love of playing the piano for hours upon hours upon hours, worried about being shut-in. Or worried that we HAD caught the virus and then what would happen? Or worried about if he’d given the virus to his dad who’d give it to his granddad, who’d get very sick indeed.

All valid concerns, which is why we had to stay away from people for a bit. Not a horrible thing for an introvert like me, but this might take its toll on everyone.

Luckily for The Boyz, it was spring break, so taking 2 weeks off was kinda what they were going to do. I think this would have been a whole different level of stress if they were being forced to miss tests, classes and band.

But what to do? What…to…do?

I had plenty of ideas, but they mostly involved jobs. No one seemed keen on that. Even me. The-Youngest wanted to marathon rollercoaster videos on YouTube. The-Oldest wanted to compose and create. The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World wanted to rest as she wasn’t feeling that well (spiking my anxiety that she had the virus!)

But I wanted to make this day a good day. We needed to do something cool. Something nerdy.

So, The-Youngest and I built what is perhaps the greatest blanket fort of all time, with a TV in it, a mini-fridge and a stuffed guard dog named Ralph. I have to say, those blanket forts are not easy to make, especially if you need to have a big TV in it, but he had a plan, I had the power to use unconventional building supplies like an organ, a box of paperclips and Rubbermaid containers full of lego.

It took a good 3 hours to make, but man, we made one great fort. I could live in it. Happily. So you can imagine how happy The-Youngest is to sit down there, the small lamp inside making the tent glow, a bag of chips nearby and an Xbox game blaring 2’ from his face.

He was in heaven.

For supper, we made home-made pizzas, something I hadn’t done in a very long time and then watched a movie together. (Jojo Rabbit, for anyone interested, a simply brilliant and funny and heart-rending movie unlike anything you’ll likely ever see.)

Honestly, I hope like hell we don’t all get sick, but likely we will at some point, the virus being what it is.

Who knows what awaits tomorrow, but I Iove how the family has come together.

For better or worse, this year will likely be something we remember for the rest of our lives.