Inventory

Here in the Wyse Home City, in response to the coronavirus, schools have closed. Libraries are closed. Rec Centers are closed. Athletics are canceled. Universities have closed and/or moved to online learning. Churches are closed. Some small businesses have closed. Grocery stores have reduced hours of operations. Concerts, sporting events, performances are canceled. Even at the neighborhood level, we are all giving each other a 6 feet berth on the sidewalk. The changes came very quickly, and it's hard to believe how different it was just a week ago.

We are taking the social distancing seriously, and most of the people around us seem to be doing the same. My biggest concern is not really for my immediate family, but for the risk that my stick-it-in-my-mouth, handwashing-adverse kids pose to older and more vulnerable people. I'd like to tell you that I've managed to make my kids Models of Hygienic Discipline, but the would be An Outright Lie.

When school announced it was closing, there was one last day of school before the break was to begin. Mattais told me he was glad to go to school, because it made it seem like everything was normal. (That's a huge credit to his teachers, who have obviously done an awesome job maintaining a calm environment in the classrooms!) We talked a lot about how canceling school was something that we are doing for other people, not for ourselves. Noah and Mattias seem to find it comforting to know that this is how they can help other people. Trixie is still a little young to really get it; in fact, she keeps forgetting that she won't be back in school tomorrow!

Both Fritz and I are now (indefinitely) working from home. The kiddos are officially on extended spring break until April 7th. I'm mentally preparing myself for the idea that they may be off for the rest of the school year. I'm devouring articles with projections of infection rate. I realize the data is almost impossible to use for prediction because our testing is so spotty, but my take away from what I'm reading is that infection rates will climb for the next 2-3 week – and then, with 2-3 weeks of climbing numbers – will we really be ready to jump back into school? I think not.

Last night, I lost myself in a movie we were watching with the kids. When it was over, I had the strange jolt not that I was returning to normal life, but rather that I was returning to a new reality as foreign to me as the movie.

One thing that is clear after a mere two days at home is that we eat SO MUCH FOOD. I'm thinking a lot about home delivery of groceries. We've never done this; and I guess now is a good time to start. Or maybe it's a horrible time to start because everyone else will be starting, too. I don't know. When I read about grocery stores limiting the number of patrons at one time, and people standing in lines, I think delivery sounds like the way to go, although I know delivery is experiencing its own problems and shortages. I'm thinking Amazon Fresh – their business model is already set up, their product is coming from a warehouse, not a store (less opportunity for contagion). It's not relying on an internet gig economy worker (although I'm thinking Amazon has only a slightly better reputation.) Do you use delivery? Is it working for you?