The stock market plunges.

I won’t lie, my anxiety level has increased, but I read some interesting information I’d like to share… well not word-for-word share, but share the meat of it, as it were.

But first of all, thanks to all the kind people who’ve sent us emails, texts, messages or instagrammer thingees asking about us. We’re all still fine, getting up in the morning, taking our temperatures, eating ice cream at 2pm (not sure that’s on the doctor’s orders, but whatever), and trying not to obsessively watch news about the Covid19 crisis.

Beyond our walls, Canada closed its borders to non-citizens, the stock market took another massive beating, (down a total of 27% since this darned thing started, hence my stress level) and the ferries are allowing us to stay in our cars while crossing.

Good lord.

However, on a day with great weather, we had fun indoors. Indoors is not such a bad place, as it turns out.

The epic blanket fort is proving to be a huge draw for The-Youngest who has claimed it like Germany claimed Poland.  He is now an occupying power. Inside, he watches Netflix movies like the newer Get Smart (with Steve Carrel) and works his way up the leaderboards on games like Call of Duty.

The-Oldest had plans to play a 24 hour marathon of Minecraft with his friends, but that got pushed until tomorrow, so he’s only playing from 4 until midnight or something. I love hearing him singing to his friends, berating them when they’re annoying him and figuring out ways to build something epic together (a railway made of gold? Is that possible?)

Both The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World and I worked on connecting with our tribe. I contacted my lovely writer’s group, a few of my older friends, and quite a few of my American friends, who are about to be hit by an enormous healthcare Tsunami. The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World contacted her great Baba (link here for more about her) and a ton of family and friends to keep her social connections from becoming like a rusty chevy in the backyard (or my treadmill in the basement.)

Now on to people emptying shelves of food.

Why is food important? Well, for obvious reasons like we need chocolate so as not to have a complete meltdown, and we are, at our core, hunters/gatherers, so it’s in our DNA. But there’s something deeper.

Food equals safety.

Now for many of us, this is the first time we’ve had to worry about food. I mean, hey, we’re a pretty privileged society, and I’ve been grateful for that, (epically grateful, in fact, since I’m a student of history which means I’m basically a student of suffering.) Most of us have shelter, check, all of us have access to clean water, check, and power/internet is still up and running, so food becomes a very powerful thing.

Food equals safety.

And so, going to a store and actually seeing empty shelves, or in some cases, empty aisles, can be terrifying. Suddenly, we get this horrible twisting in our guts. Our hearts race. Fear begins to take hold.

However, this is where fear, like my pancakes, turns into something ugly. Fear becomes panic and when panic starts, we get runss on items in the grocery store.

Because we can’t control this virus. We can’t control what’s happening in the stock market. We can’t even control what stays open or closed. So, food becomes that small measure of security we need in a very uncertain world.

Could we run out? Maybe. But not likely. Even countries like Italy who have severe restrictions on movement and what shops can be open, are not suffering a food crisis. The basics are available. Sure, you can’t get a spaghetti alle vongole at your favourite diner run by Momma Mascioni, but you can still eat.

Comfort Food (not my picture, and not really how it looked after I made it.

So, because food equals safety (or comfort), I made a nice soup for the family, kind of an Italianie hamburger thing.

I guess at the end of the day, I am actually hopeful. My dad survived the Germans bombing London and grew up in the Great Depression. My mom made it through rationing in Canada. I think we can survive.

Tomorrow, who knows what awaits, but I’ll have some predictions for this crisis.

Stay safe, stay healthy and stay tuned.