quarantine

When It’s Time to Step Away

Yesterday, I spent half the morning reading news.  During the other half, I read student discussion board posts.  This constant access to news and daily briefings pulls me away from other productive tasks – grading, planning, cooking, socializing.

Then, after receiving notice that K-12 schools will be closed until at least April 30, I began worrying even more about my college junior, high school senior, and 8th grader academically, socially, and emotionally.

  • My college kiddo has another year, but this was supposed to be her first summer staying on campus.  We haven’t heard if campus will be open in May or not. The uncertainty of this spring and summer – college, baseball, jobs – makes all of us anxious.
  • The senior has been furloughed from her vet clinic job.  Now she’s much more aware of her separation from normal daily senior routines and friends.  I meant to get a picture of her in scrubs as a 2020 senior tribute.  Perhaps there will be another time.
  • The athletic eighth grader has been horizontal more than vertical on some days.  Baseball has been postponed indefinitely.  We bought the baseball pictures, but it might be more to remember his team than to celebrate their time together.

As for me, quarantine jokes are starting to resemble my reality a little too closely.  My days are blurring together.  I feel guilty many evenings for not accomplishing more that day.  I see little point in dressing in real clothes.  This article about working from home provides some good guidelines.

One social media post from a retired teacher reminded me (us) that we are not homeschooling our children; we are surviving.  E-learning was intended to be short-term and not a replacement for teaching.  Children should read, do math, and be creative during this time away from the classroom.  All will be fine.  The online lessons cannot replace the classroom experience for most students, and I am finding that to be true for many of my college students, as well.

However, I cannot ignore the blessings that have emerged.  The 13-year old asked his mom and dad to play Uno with him Monday night.  He won – but that was before we looked up the real rules.  It will be a different story next time.  I’ve also heard him talking with his older sister, the one he always fights with.  She might have been listening to him explain football, something she has previously had no interest in watching, playing, or hearing about at any level.  All three of them wrestle at least once every few days.

I need more of this.  I need to step away from the digital world.  Constant news, opinions, activity ideas, quarantine memes, among my responsibilities to be online to grade and respond to colleagues and students are pulling me into a strange emotional, information overload.

It is time to unplug.  The next few days might be warm enough for some walks in between classes and emails, but I plan to schedule some longer blocks of time for me and the family to turn off all devices.  A new Yahtzee game is opened and ready.  We’ve brushed up on our Uno rules.  I could try winning another game of Monopoly.

Unfortunately, spinning the wheel on The Game of Life might hit a little too close to home.

A Stay-at-Home Shelter Sunday

Yesterday was Sunday.  Even not being able to follow the same, weekly routine, it was, shall I say, a “better different.”  

I started the day watching live-streamed mass video recorded at my home church.  Admittedly, the entire day slipped by and at 8:45 p.m. I realized that no one else had watched with me.  The video is still available, so Monday might be church for the children.  

Some time later – I really don’t know how much later – I corralled a few others to do yoga with me.  We watched the video posted by my regular yoga instructor who I had not seen in person since the previous Tuesday.  Even though I can access a number of online yoga videos, it was nice to see her familiar face and hear her words of encouragement.  By the end of fifteen minutes, I was by myself. That’s okay. There are plenty more days.

At some point, I helped my daughter clip our dog’s nails, checked Facebook, talked with a colleague, and read some articles.

My son found a camera I had bought some years ago for a mission trip.  On that trip, we had been encouraged to keep our cell phones turned off, but as an adult leader, I wanted to take pictures.  Who knows what might still be on the SD card because we could not find the battery charger anywhere. That’s when I spent some time on Amazon ordering a replacement cord.  Not essential for anything but sanity.

Meanwhile, my husband kept searching for the camera battery charger cable. He opened a chest where I store incomplete baby books stuffed with mementos and boxes of photos from when I actually had film developed at a store.  We proceeded to look at old photos, smiling at memories from over 15 years ago.  I took pictures of pictures, sending them to Facebook friends and family members, some of whom I haven’t talked to in a very long time.  

The 13-year old spent the afternoon looking at slides under the microscope and taking pictures of his own.  Thankfully, he was looking at prepared slides of dog tongue and not creating new slides using our own dogs. 

I don’t think anyone actually ate leftovers, even though that had been my plan.  Cooking full meals for a few days had stocked the fridge with various containers of meats and veggies, but no one seemed hungry, or maybe they just snacked.  Anyway, cans of diced tomatoes are sitting on the counter today to remind me to fix chili. 

We taught the 13-year old to play the card game Euchre (yes, I had to look up the spelling).  He and dad won two games, but my daughter and I gave them competition. 

Ending the evening with a show and popcorn seemed more Sunday-ish and less “stay your butt home” order-ish.  It was definitely more peaceful than Saturday’s cabin fever-ish arguments. It’s Monday, and I can already see a whole lot more “ish” happening this week.  Perhaps first will be school-ish. It’s a really quiet morning for me when they sleep late, though, so there is not even a hope for schedule-ish right now.