I got up a bit earlier than yesterday. I’m trying hard to keep to some kind of schedule and to make sure when I do get up that I am not just watching T.V. (especially the news) and I’m not just scrolling social media. I am losing the battle to limit myself, but it’s so hard now that life as we know it is changing by the hour.
The weather was gorgeous today and, knowing tomorrow would be quite the opposite, my wife and I opted to unplug and get out for a long walk with the dog. It felt good to move my body, to fun and laugh and to pretend for a while that everything was back to normal again.
The relief didn’t last long. As soon as we got back home, I started seeing reports and rumors about another extension of the already extended Spring break. The Governor announced today that it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that schools across the city will reopen before summer break. My mind is struggled to wrap around the idea of two weeks away from work, two months or more away is unimaginable. It already hard enough to stay busy and to keep our minds occupied as it is, I’m not sure how we will make it through another month.
Or, I know we will make it, but I’m not sure what we will have to do to make it or how we will have changed when we do. I suppose that applies to each of us, no matter what our location or circumstance is. I suppose this applies to us all as a collective city, state, country, and species.
News just came in that all Colorado school districts will be closed for the next month. We will not return until April 20th, at least. It’s nerve-wracking, but at the same time I am so grateful. I know I am one of the lucky ones by far. I will be getting paid for this time off and I’m not even being asked to work from home. I know that, financially, I will make it through this just fine and all I have to worry about now is keeping the food and essentials in the house.
Since we are so lucky we’ll be looking for ways to help those less fortunate than us get through this confusing and terrifying time whether that means volunteering (unlikely due to both of us having chronic conditions) or through donations in the form of cash or goods. We’ll be ordering food through take out or delivery and buying gift cards to help keep local businesses afloat.
We’re all in this together and my hope is that by the end, whenever that is and whatever that looks like, the world will have changed in every way for the better. My hope is that this will be a reminder that humans cannot survive or thrive without other humans, and we learn to care a little more for one another for the good of us all. I don’t want all of this to have been in vain.
Lisa Marie Blair 