3/28 Shelter In Place for all...

Mar 28

Mar 28 3/28 Shelter In Place for all...

March 28th. Wow, already day 13. It is Saturday. Even though the days run together, there is still a weekend feel. Chris is “home” for the weekend, not holed up in his office over the garage, in virtual meetings all day. We are tracking the days, crossing off each day on a big whiteboard, where we also keep track of our evening meals. We hear that the worst is yet to come. There is no end in sight right now. Every day a new announcement is in our inbox, alerting us of a festival cancellation or postponement, or extension of the shelter-at-home order. To be honest, even if they told me it was ok to go out, I would choose not to. I kind of wonder how long it will take to get back to how we used to socialize- if we ever will. When will we feel comfortable with the idea of a crowded concert, casino, or night club? The thought of being in a crowded place, a concert hall, or a bar is just not appealing at all. Happy to stay home, cuddling with the dogs and my kids, trying out new recipes, cocktails and puzzling.

Day 13 also means I have committed to do 13 burpees today! Tomorrow will be 14, and so on until we get to 100. Exercise has kept me sane. My peloton is being used nonstop by me and my two daughters. I committed to a new lifting program, a pullup program and I joined a Power Zone Challenge (Peloton lingo for hard as f---). The garage gym is where we go to forget the outside world.

We have been on hikes, but I fear that may be curtailed soon. Yesterday Eva and Maya went to Skyline Park and the parking lot was already full. They had to park on the overflow lot. They told me they passed at least 30 people on the trail, possibly more. When they encountered others they tried their best to get off the trail to allow for 6ft distance but they said other hikers were not doing the same, often just hogging the middle of the trail. It is frustrating how other people are on a different part of the curve of understanding of this crisis.

Everyday I sleep in later and later. There is little motivation to get out of bed. I don’t have little ones who need me, and I have nowhere to go. I can’t even stream Netflix because everyone needs the bandwidth for their online classes and work. First thing I do is make an apple cider vinegar drink, then consume my daily dose of Athletic Greens, and finally get to my cappuccino. I have Doterra On Guard in two different diffusers steaming all day long. I take a spoon of Manuka honey and virgin coconut oil. We avoid Advil like it is poison. We are doing everything we can do to stay healthy and boost our immune systems, even though we know its probably quackery.

I delay looking at my phone in the morning ...there is never good news. I have a Coronavirus Pandemic website bookmarked, so I note the increasing case numbers. USA is now #1 in cases surpassing China and Italy. No surprise there. My FB feed just keeps getting worse and I can’t stand watching Trump anymore (I never could but it is even worse now). Every day another friend posts news of themselves or a family member with the virus. Just today a friend posted that he contracted the virus in Miami two weeks ago. He just got released from the ICU and he is ok! We didn’t even know he was sick.

When I do open the phone, first I check all my messaging apps. iMessage is monopolized by a few group texts. My “Napa Girls” share funny memes, barter garden items, and plan zoom happy hours. The “Napa Book Club” group focuses on good reads, or authors in the news, and movies that are being released based on books we have read. The “Tokyo Girls”, my dear friends from our expat years in Tokyo, now spread around the globe, share recipes, funny videos, and cute dog photos, interspersed with family news. What’s App is where I read messages from our family in Berlin and other international friends checking in. Lately it hasn’t been fun to open What’s App, as I learned that my French father (from my summer abroad when I was 16), who I love dearly, is in the hospital with Covid-19. Every morning I wake up to see if there is an update on him. I also get messages from Abul, the director of our school in Bangladesh. Everything is on lockdown there. I am grateful at least for that, as I cannot imagine what would happen if this virus got out of control in a crowded metropolis like Chittagong.

We have learned a new way to communicate with friends and family with an application called Marco Polo. My friend who invited us to it, calls it “the Snapchat for adults”. It is basically a video conversation that you can hold in either real time or whenever you are ready to reply. I like it. It feels more personal than texting. In some way I feel I may end up knowing my friends better through these intimate moments on video and texts. Zoom and GoToMeeting have become our saviors. I “hosted” a Zoom healthy cooking class for a SaladMaster demonstration. Hoping to host another one in a few weeks and since it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, I open this to everyone! Message me if you’re interested.

We had a successful book club using GoToMeeting and it went better than expected. Usually our book clubs are full-on chaos with everyone trying to get a word in. That doesn’t work in the virtual group video call, so people have to be disciplined and take turns. I admit it is not quite as fun as our usual book club, which always has a signature book themed cocktail, yummy appetizers and a gossip session, before we sit down with a loaded dinner plate and begin talking about the book. I think next time I need to get everyone to drink a shot or two before we start the meeting! The book was excellent by the way. I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone, and suggest all adults in the family to read it. The book, “Know My Name”, is the memoir of Chanel Miller. I listened to her reading it on Audible. It is an account of her experiences as the rape victim of the Stanford Varsity swimmer, Brock Turner, that was in the news a few years ago. Though the subject matter seems dark and not something you would want to read at a time like this, it is actually incredibly powerful to see this young woman evolve and turn her pain into power. You will be amazed at her resilience. She is also an incredible writer in her own right. The way she is able to capture emotions and words on the page is extraordinary. This book should be required reading for every university staff member and every high school senior and incoming college freshman. I really want my daughters, husband and son to read it.

What lies ahead for me this weekend? Laundry, cooking (Oma’s meatloaf), binge watching of Breaking Bad, and hopefully a lesson for my family on how to play Mexican Train.