{SQT} Self-Isolation Day #56

Friday, Self-Isolation Day #56

We request continued prayers for my husband's mother D. She has been sick with COVID-19 for six weeks (now negative, but still sick) and is now out of ICU and recovering at a long-term, acute care facility. She is still on a ventilator with tracheotomy. We have not shared many, many very dark days of updates for the last six weeks, but I will share today that Chris got to see her through the glass window: awake, smiling, crying with emotion, and waving her hands in greeting. Praise God! 

Today: school, music lessons, football outdoors, much coloring in the Victorian Fashions coloring book, another daily rainstorm, and delivery pizza. With my husband out of town, Mommy's tank of patience and tolerance for volume of any kind (even the nice kind) sputtered and coughed down to empty too soon, such that I only prayed one decade of the rosary with the children, put the boys to bed (reading them a good chapter book to calm myself down), and then crawled into bed at 7:45 p.m. and put a pillow over my head.

I took few photos today, but David (2) asked me to photograph his leaves "from the crunchy tree!" In the distance, you can see Thomas (4) who had taken a box, opened up the bottom in order to stand in it like it is a vehicle, and drawn a map with Sharpie pen on the inside "so I don't get lost." He is wearing a fireman's hat and "driving" all over the cul-de-sac, shouting triumphantly--he shouts everything he says--"Now I'm in Texas! Now I'm in Mexico! Now I'm in China!"

My only other photo was of my folded laundry from the "catch all" load I do every other day: all the kitchen linens, powder room linens, plus any little boy clothing that gets stained and I throw directly into the laundry room. On top of that, I do one load of clothing per day, six days per week, while the two oldest children do their own weekly laundry and my son launders all the bathroom towels. With our pool opening within a few weeks, I guess I will decide how often I (or an assigned child?) am going to launder the pool towels.

Tonight at 5:00 p.m., our stay-at-home mandate alters and moves into Phase I of reopening. It's just one small step, but we are very grateful!

As our state starts opening up, I might step back from writing daily to document this historic time for my little family to read back on some day. I might just publish when something more interesting is happening than school and outdoor play; outdoor play and school; wash, rinse, and repeat. (I have greatly appreciate the private emails I've received thanking me for writing in my tiny corner of cyberspace. People have been so kind.)

What will the summer bring for our family and others? Some workers, including professionals, will still lose their jobs over the summer as the economic devastation of coronavirus reverberates. Companies that held on for eight weeks "by the skin of their teeth" (as my mom always said) will have to do major reorganizations to avoid bankruptcy. We need to pray for family breadwinners living with concerns. What activities will open up for families this summer? I have seen many email announcements of traditions cancelled, such as local summer theater and swim teams. For our family, we were about to put the check in the mail for the two oldest to go to summer camps the very week the lockdown began: I do not think they will get to go now. What about our single planned family vacation? That may be cancelled, too. Our children were going to take swimming lessons: Will we still pay for that? Will the teacher still be willing to teach it? For families everywhere, some activities may be cancelled by the organizers and some activities may be cancelled by the families who now cannot afford that summer treat.

Our school year will be winding up within a couple of weeks and perhaps we will be practicing gratitude, releasing our exciting plans for the summer, and embracing an old-fashioned summer of dirt (dirt everywhere!), catching lizards in the day and fireflies at night, playing ball games, swimming in the pool, and eating Popsicles!

Bonus Reading for Posterity:

• Sharpen your brain and put on your thinking cap to read this very important article on why the COVID numbers available to us are completely unreliable. It wouldn't matter so much except that leaders have made life-altering decisions for our country's citizens based on unreliable data. (Winnowing the COVID-19 Numbers — Guest Post by John Carver.)
• An opinion piece worth consideration by the citizens all our states, not just of Minnesota. (Minnesota must recover from its pandemic of fear.)
• Will we really just bounce right back economically? More than 30 million jobs lost, retirement savings decimated, cut in half? (Top JPMorgan Investment Officer: It Will Take ’10 to 12 Years’ for U.S. Employment Levels to Return.)
• Interesting to consider the history of the Hong Kong flu, for which my understanding is that the country did not go into lockdown or destroy our economy. An estimated 100,000 people died in our country when our population was about 130,000,000 fewer than it is now. This influenza still circulates annually as an Influenza A. (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1968-pandemic.html)

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