9/12/2020 of COVID-19 Home Life

Chel Owens

“Do you have your lunch? Your shoes? Your water? Your mask?”

The morning routine for school is more complicated. Each Monday and Wednesday, I ensure that four boys are fully equipped. The downside is they’ve more to remember, in bringing a personal water bottle (no drinking fountain use preferred) and mask (to be worn all day, except whilst eating lunch).

On the plus side, they remember to brush their teeth on their own. It turns out that they can’t stand the smell of their own breath inside a mask when they forget…

Photo by August de Richelieu on Pexels.com

School drop-off looks a bit different as well. The children are assigned to line up on the school’s soccer field; by class, six feet apart. An aide marches each class in at the first bell. Latecomers check in through the office, as usual, but I am not allowed to walk them back to their class -a problem when anxiety rears its head.

After school, I retrieve mine from other groups of talking, eye-smiling, laughing children. The elementary students wear their masks, still; the middle schoolers do not. Once home, I make them all drop their clothes in the washer and wash their hands; again, my middle-schooler sometimes ‘forgets.’

But we’ve yet to see Coronavirus. The closest that green-mist plague has come is “possible exposure” to a neighbor’s daughter who is on a school dance team. They were told to remain home for two weeks, test or no.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

It’s odd, this Coronalife. I feel like a closet zealot in my opinions, believing that IT might come again while so many friends and neighbors doubt ITs existence or, at least, ITs potency. I can’t say I blame them, since the friends who take IT very seriously are turning a bit crazy: not answering doors even to their deliveries, washing off the same sort of groceries I immediately put away, and watching from windows as we play on scooters while their children watch iPads.

A relative of mine went off the deep end during quarantine. I never mentioned it till now. That person is fine…er now. But she/he told me that she/he had to make a choice about what was more important: sanity or security. Day by day, I’m being shown that ‘security’ isn’t that secure, so why not choose the sanity?

Sneeze-clouds and doorknob-lickings aside, I feel infection may be avoided or lessened if one uses common sense. Right? And, common sense may still be allowed outside.

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

On another note, Utah experienced a massive wind last Tuesday. Elements combined to create the perfect storm. Winds nearing or surpassing 100 mph (161 kmh) tore across the northern part of the state, ripping down trees and signs and felling semi-trucks on the interstate.

©2020 Mary Caputo

I received periodic e-mail messages from our power company. The first said 180,000 customers were without power. Another, the next day, said they’d gotten that number down to 96,000. I didn’t receive another after that, but learned that some did not have electricity for four days.

©2020 Merrily Bennett

I also read stories of neighbors helping neighbors. The National Guard cleared debris, too. In a time of need, people stepped up to the challenge.

Which is the message I wish to convey today, in the shadow of September 11. Despite what some followers may suspect, I remember 9/11. Moreover, I remember the days that followed. In the aftermath of a terrible disaster, we came together for each other. People in NYC wrote messages of hope in the ash coating firetrucks. American flags flew from buildings and homes. Complete strangers sat and talked and cried and comforted each other.

We may be living in this post-apocalyptic setting of masks, signs, and shortages for some time yet. But, if we can remember our humanity, we can get through this. Together, we can get through anything.

©2020 Chel Owens

25 thoughts on “9/12/2020 of COVID-19 Home Life”

  2. A beautiful message. I am also realising that life needs to go on, C-19 or not, and my children and I need to face the dragon and believe in the safety measures enough to go about our daily lives. So far so good. I remember 9/11 too. I was at work when it happened. Terence and I had recently returned from our honeymoon which was a tour of Italy with mainly older 20 somethings. There were a few Americans from Washington and NYC. I remember us all frantically emailing to check on them. Another weird period in my life.

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  4. Our resilience, our resolve to get through this will serve us well as we travel these strange times. And yes, the strength, understanding and support of others is something we should embrace. I hadn’t put the sanity versus security decision into those words. However, each decision to venture out of the house is a risk/reward proposition. While, I don’t deny ITS existence, potency, or stealthiness, I choose to continue to live life cautiously but fully.

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  8. What a sweet post, Chelsea. I like how you transitioned from the strangeness of the corona-day to the memories of 9/11 and how the nation (and world) came together. I wish we could come together again, but I know that covid-fatigue is a real thing. Continue to take care. It doesn’t hurt, and the virus does.

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      1. I heard a report from Fauci yesterday that realistically, we’re one year away from resumption of “normal” life. That’s after the vaccine is developed, tested, and distributed. Seems like forever! But there are things we can do (like other countries have done) to live well with a pandemic… if we would all come together. 🙂

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  9. I’m glad you all are doing well despite this virus mess. I don’t understand how people can be so flippant about it. We’ve exercised caution and Margaret still came down with COVID. There’s so much we don’t know about this disease. Margaret didn’t have any of the symptoms like fever, chills, etc. but she did have low oxygen levels in her blood and had to go to the hospital for a couple of days. Neither I or my step-kid ever came down with it despite very close exposure before we learned of her status. Ironically, Margaret is the one who stays at home for the most part. The only place she had been between the first negative test and the positive one had been the cardiologist’s office (I wasn’t allowed to go in with her). There’s no telling how this virus goes. I can’t understand the risks people are willing to take. It’s such a crap shoot. Stay safe and thanks for sharing your experiences with COVID life…

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    1. I hear everything from, “No one’s gotten it” to stories like yours …that end in death. I’m glad Margaret had minimal symptoms.
      Since being careful in terms of limiting excursions still leads to occasional infection; I go out when necessary, mask, wash, and avoid obviously bad things like secondhand shops and even restaurants.

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  11. I am more concerned with with the harsh way people are treating each other these days, with the fear in people’s eyes, with the anxiety levels and downright hatred in the comments I read than I ever have felt about the possibility of catching or even dying of COVID. People are quite simply forgetting how to be human. How to respect others who think differently than them.
    We are grasping so hard for control, it’s downright scary. Like you, I chose sanity… also kindness and respect. This means keeping my distance in public, wearing my mask when necessary, AND refraining from judging those who chose to live more cautiously – or carelessly – than I would. I think a big difference between this and other major crisis’s is that this has been one of the most divisive issues I have lived through. People all seem to “KNOW” the answers. But, in reality, I think no one really does.

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    1. How right you are! I believe this is all a symptom of social media. People are literally creating an echo chamber of their perspective and opinions, unfriending and lashing out at those who disagree. Then, they hardly interact in real life. I’m perplexed at the divisiveness; as you said, forgetting how to be human.

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