Our Temporary New "Normal"

Our daily routine is looking a little different now. I'm sure it's like that for everyone right now. The kids started remote learning for three days the week before spring break. (This past week was spring break.) They will start that again on Monday. On a school day, the kids can sleep in a little unless their teacher is holding "office hours" at a certain time and wants all the kids to log on. They get up, work on their schoolwork for however long that takes them, and then the rest of the day is theirs. I'm sure we'd have to handle things differently if the kids were younger, but they are both capable and responsible enough to be sure their school work gets done. One day Tyler set his alarm to log on to the live discussion for his 9am class. When that was over, he finished his other classwork for the day, and then went back to bed until after lunch. Tyler has a very easy course load this semester and his remote learning schedule is easy, too. Danielle's is a little harder. I think the remote learning will become stressful for her if it goes on much longer...and I think it will.

One of Danielle's classes during "office hours".

For my job, my department split into shifts so we aren't always physically together. For the most part, I work on even dates and have odd dates off. I walk to work in the morning and am usually home by 1:30 or 2. Lunch ladies don't typically get much respect, which is fine. It's kind of funny now, though, that I'm considered essential. When I was at the grocery store yesterday someone recognized me as "that lady who passes out food at the elementary school". I'm thankful I'm in a position where I can make a difference. Ron is still working his normal hours, which is a good thing. There are so many people without jobs and incomes right now. I'm thankful we are both still able to work.

I try to do something with Danielle in the afternoon. We enjoy spending time together and usually do a lot together in the summer anyway. We just have to be more creative about it now since so many things are closed. We walk a lot. We like to go to the park, but since nothing else is open, everyone else does, too. Sometimes it's a little crowded. The weather has not been cooperative, either, but we grab umbrellas or bundle up and try to make the most of it.

I bought some pottery for us to paint. When the stores open back up we can take the pieces in to have them fired. We also went to the library as soon as we knew school was going to be closed for a few weeks and stocked up on some reading material.  If the weather cooperates, Ron and I try to take Danielle to the park to practice in the evenings as often as we can. A lot of the time Tyler plays games online with his friends. I'm glad he's able to keep in touch with them that way.  Sometimes we all play a game together after dinner.

We have always tried to have family dinners but it was difficult to make it work all the time. That has certainly gotten much easier! The other thing I've noticed is that there is much less complaining about what we're having for dinner. The option to eat out has been taken away for the most part, and everyone is aware of the grocery store issues. I have gone to the grocery store a few times. I try to be more diligent about keeping track of what we need so we limit the amount of times we go and how long we're out. The shelves are filling up some, but it is still hard to find some items. The meat is still sparse and toilet paper is almost impossible to find. Even so, we continue to have everything we need and a lot of what we want. Before I go to the store I try to check with my older coworker, our neighbors who work at the hospital, and my aunt & uncle that live nearby to see if they need anything.

I took this yesterday. It is the toilet paper/paper towel aisle at Meijer.

One of our new daily routines is to watch a couple episodes of the original Star Trek series before we go to bed. Ron and I thought we'd watch them all, and Danielle decided to watch them with us. It is so funny to watch those now, but it's a fun time that the 3 of us look forward to. Tyler rolls his eyes when we ask him to join us. :)

Our days are definitely slower paced than before. I think not knowing just how long this will all go on makes things difficult. It's definitely not all bad, but there are a lot of things we miss. I know it won't be like this forever. We really are thankful for the extra time we have together. I also think about Tyler leaving for college and all the changes that will bring, too. I think it will be awhile before we figure out what our new "normal" is.

Friday Traditions

We typically go out for dinner on Friday nights during the school year. We kind of treat it as a time to come together and celebrate making it through the work/school week and to kick off the weekend. We have done this pretty regularly since Tyler’s first marching band performance his freshman year. On the last day of school last Friday, we went out as usual. In hindsight, I hope we didn’t make a mistake by being out and about and around other people. The restrictions were not as strict then, and we weren’t thinking much about spreading the virus past using hand sanitizer and washing our hands.

That said, we had such a nice time together. The food was really good, but more than that, there was a lot of talking and laughing. We celebrated the end of our work/school week as usual, and talked about what might be coming in the weeks ahead. It was a good time together. Now, looking back, I realize we may also have been celebrating Tyler’s last day of high school. We enjoyed our dinner and then picked up Uncle Ron and went for ice cream. Again, I hope this wasn’t a mistake in hindsight, but it was such a nice time together, made even more special by all that has happened since.

If anything, this pandemic has changed the way we look at our daily routines. There were so many things we didn’t realize we were taking for granted. Being able to enjoy our Friday tradition at a restaurant with family after a week of school is some of that. I cherished the memories we were making at the time, but they mean even more now. I look forward to the weeks ahead when we can settle back into these comfortable routines, but I know they will be even more special to us then.

"Extended Spring Break"

Towards the middle of the week of March 9th, people started talking about the possibility of schools closing. The kids all joked about it initially. I don't think anyone really felt like the threat of the virus was a personal concern. It was just something happening somewhere else. Even so, the staff started to develop contingency plans just in case it happened. We were told it wasn't a matter of "if" we would close, but "when". And for how long? The governor announced at his press conference on March 12 that all Ohio schools would close for "an extended spring break" of 3 weeks beginning the following Monday. With set dates, our school began to plan in earnest. The announcement from the governor came on Thursday, the next day, Friday would be our last day in the building together for awhile.

Our school decided to give students Monday & Tuesday off so the teachers could work on developing their online classrooms. Remote learning was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, March 18. The teachers had to reinvent ways to teach and remain connected with their students. All in a couple days.

The governor also made provisions for schools to continue providing meals for students even though learning was to be done remotely. With his provisions, schools are able to provide meals for ALL students, not just those students who qualify for free meals. There are forms and paperwork to be completed and hopefully everything will be reimbursed eventually. For now, our school is feeding students and footing the bill to do so. We started providing breakfasts and lunches to students when the remote learning began on Wednesday.

Our food service department split into shifts to cover the days without all of us being together at once. Our concern is that if one person has to be quarantined, the whole program could be shut down. We have a lot of community organizations who are trying to help provide food, but the bulk of the responsibility rests with the school district. 

We distributed meals from 2 locations on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday. The amount we handed out almost doubled from Wednesday to Friday. There were a few people who stopped to pick up meals simply because they wanted to get out of the house, some were probably looking for a no-hassle meal for the kids (which I totally appreciate!), and there were some who genuinely needed the food. Not necessarily because of the quarantine, but because they have a hard time providing food for their children on a regular basis and the need was still there.




The guidelines for how many people should be together and how close you should be to one another have continued to change, and we have tried to follow the rules. It is difficult to keep those things in mind when your main thought is just feeding as many people as you can in a 2 hour window, though. Hopefully we have done enough to keep our staff and the people we are feeding safe.

We are on spring break this coming week, so the community organizations will be taking over for a week. As long as we are still allowed, we will be back at it on March 30. If this quarantine goes on for very long, I know the numbers of families picking up food will continue to increase. I hope we're able to continue meeting their needs.

Little Did I Know...

My last post was on New Year's Day. When I looked back at it today, it seems kind of prophetic that I wrote "So much of what has become “routine” for our family will change this coming year. We will celebrate some “lasts” and also some new “firsts” and hopefully lots of memorable moments in between those times. It will definitely be a year of change."

It is most definitely turning out to be a year of change. In January I meant it in relation to our kids continuing to grow up and pursue their dreams and goals, but now the change is so much broader. And it's not just for my little family. Everyone is suddenly faced with change, all to different extents.

Until last Monday, we knew what both kids needed to do to finish this school year. We knew where Tyler was going to college, when his senior prom and trip to Cedar Point would be, when his last high school band concert and graduation ceremony would be, when his party would be, where he would be working this summer. We knew how Danielle would be spending all her evenings this spring, when she would take the ACT test so she can take college classes in the fall, where we would be spending spring break, and had a good idea of where she stood regarding college recruiting. We had a plan to pay for college and were pretty confident our jobs were secure. And then, with one press conference, all of that clarity became fuzzy. For everyone, not just my family. Everything that anyone was certain of suddenly became questionable.

I have gone through so many emotions over the past week, just like everyone else has. The worst part is watching Tyler and Danielle deal with all the disappointments. All the missed opportunities, milestone moments, rights of passage, all the unknowns and "new normals". To say it's hard is an understatement. My heart hurts for them and for their classmates who are missing the same important moments.

I can't fix this. It's what parents want to do, but this one is out of my control. It is not out of God's control, though. He was not surprised or caught off guard by this. He still has a plan. A plan for me and for my family. The future is uncertain to me, but He can see the big picture. Despite the anxiety, this is what I am choosing to believe. God's goodness and authority is a constant in the uncertainty. That has to be enough right now.