We finally, finally made it out of the longest March ever. At the beginning of last month I was teaching an in-person library class, celebrating Women's History Month at work, and planning to interview candidates for a search committee I'm on to hire a new colleague. Outside of work, I was taking my son to the doctor, having a birthday dinner celebration with my husband's family, and trying two different photoshoots in order to capture Baby's 9-month, two-teeth smile. It seems like a lifetime ago, as we've now started getting used to a new normal that doesn't involve any of that.
This week felt pretty typical as far as work. I answered the usual student questions online, experimented with some digital presentation technology, and attended multiple online meetings, including my first virtual faculty senate meeting where the president of the college was interrupted by crunching paper sounds because attendees didn't realize their microphones were on.... I'm thankful that my job duties and national committee work have prepared me to use digital tools so I've been able to jump right in to similar online situations without too many mishaps.
Outside of work, I paid the usual bills on the first of the month, washed my hands to the point of dry patches of skin on the backs, and dealt with an uncomfortable--and now just ugly--stye. These are blessings, in the grand scheme of things. I can pay my bills. I'm not out of soap. A stye is the worst malady I have to worry about. Because I also know at least two people personally who are sick with the virus. There have been confirmed cases on each of the three college campuses where I work. It spreads and hits closer and closer to home as we take more and more precautions. I don't feel trapped that I haven't left my house in 15 days. I feel blessed. I feel like I'm doing something by not doing something, and I encourage others to do and continue the same.
Our governor has now issued an official "stay at home" directive, meant to be more potent than his previous request. And the nation has a possible date of April 30 before we might be able to re-open businesses and return to the outside world. If we can make it through another long month--the metaphorical rain of April--will we be rewarded with good news in May?
It's too soon to tell. So for now we live in April. Live in the day-by-day moment. We adapt. Like for my dad's birthday on April 2. We scheduled a Google Hangouts video call at 7pm when my brother got off work from his essential hospital job. This was another moment where I was thankful for familiarity with technology. Technology brought us together as we sang happy birthday to my dad, watched him blow out candles and open presents, listened to my brother play the ukulele for him, and took photos and selfies of our screens. It was a lot of fun, and we plan to do it again for our next family "dinner."
This is something we can look forward to in the April "meantime." I also look forward to upcoming amateur photoshoots I plan to take from home for Baby's 10-month "birthday," for Easter, and more. In the April "meantime" I figured it didn't make much sense to leave diaper bags and purses out since we don't have anywhere to go. I realized just how many shoes I don't need. I started to clean while Baby napped and we ended up moving furniture in our living room to make more space for Baby to crawl in and enjoy the "now." We had a family movie night just the three of us that Baby slept through (still too young for TV screens), but I very much looked forward to it. I might plan another one of those too.
Speaking of sleep, I don't want to tempt fate by calling attention to it, but one good thing to come from all our time spent at home is that my son has gotten better at sleeping. Not every night is perfect, and not every nap is independent, but let's just say I've had more long sleeps than interrupted nights since this all began. We've finally figured out sleeping arrangements that work for everyone.
And with that, my little one has just woken up from his sleepy morning nap and is ready to play! Hopefully there will be more good to come this next month, as we all wake up from this stagnant dream we never anticipated into a life of activity outside again. I'm keeping an eye out for May flowers.
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