RedsDirt: Coronavirus Quarantine

On March 12, on a rainy Thursday evening, Alex and I drove to the temple to get our monthly visit in for March. Things were just starting to get crazy with the coronavirus, so we knew it wouldn't be long before they shut down the temples for a while. Two days later (on Saturday) was the last time anyone was able to do work at the temple. We didn't realize how long it would be before we could return, but we didn't want to miss out on a month we could go. Temples are still closed for proxy work - we don't know when they'll be open again. We missed April and May so far, but there wasn't anything we could do about that.

Things happened really fast that week. Church was cancelled that weekend - March 15th - so we began our home church. School was on a 3 week break at the time, starting on March 16th (one of the earliest states in the country to shut down). NBA, NCAA, and all sports were cancelled. Disneyland and many places shut down, as well as a massive amount of events. People started panicking and running to the grocery store. People started buying out all the toilet paper, bleach, hand sanitizer, and emptying the shelves of all the non-perishable food, like rice, pasta and spaghetti sauce, as well as the fresh fruits and veggies. Milk and eggs were scarce for a while. It was so odd to see empty shelves. I was glad we were semi-prepared. We have some food storage, so we weren't too stressed about not having food. We didn't have any extra toilet paper stored though. Milk, eggs, and toilet paper were on our list to find. People must have been hoarding toilet paper, because we weren't able to find it for a while. A kind lady from our church bought some for us during senior hour at Costco one morning. We hadn't gotten desperate, but our supply was dwindling quickly with everyone at home all day. I even tried one evening to run and get some when I saw a post on FaceBook that said that Costco had toilet paper. It was gone by the time I got there, except that I just barely missed it. It seemed like everyone in the store had a package in their cart, and some people even had two, despite the limit of one per customer. It was pretty frustrating.

The stores eventually required masks, so I sewed a couple of basic cloth masks. We had twenty N-95 masks in our emergency kits, but early on the hospitals were desperate for masks, so I donated all of them. It has been odd wearing masks and seeing all the lines and arrows on the floor and the plastic barriers at check-out. We're not allowed to bring our own bags anymore and we have to maintain distance from other shoppers.

With the food shortages, we decided to take advantage of the free school lunches offered for the kids. They were basically begging people to come pick up lunch anyway (we were helping keep food service workers employed), and we weren't finding milk and bread for a little while. Things got better with the food at the grocery store, but we continued to do the free lunches. Nathan also got to practice driving a little bit every day. The kids looked forward to lunch every day - it was pretty good!

It wasn't long before the 3 week temporary shut down turned into an indefinite shut down. We adjusted to the new normal. School was all remote learning. We had to figure out a daily schedule for everyone and try to figure out how not to overload the Wifi. We were able to check out a chromebook for each of the kids, so they could do their daily Zoom meetings and homework. It was a learning curve at first trying to figure out how to get on the meetings, navigating the devices and google docs, and turning in homework online. The kids adjusted and quickly figured out how to be fairly independent. They could sign on to their meetings on their own, with a little reminder of when to get on their meeting, and they learned to do most of their work without help. Savannah figured out how to "write" on her screen, using one finger to hold the button and the other to write. Weston was probably the most frustrated with the writing assignments, because he's in 3rd grade and was expected to type his daily writing work. He doesn't know how to type, so finding every single letter on the keyboard was a challenge. He needed the most help on his assignments, but he got better as time went on.

Alex soon had to work from home as well, so I had to know when his meetings were and when to keep the kids from bothering him. His first meeting (that he was leading) didn't go so well, because I was at the store and Savannah ran into his meeting crying about something.

Nathan's seminary class began doing Zoom meetings as well so they could continue their gospel study. He had those at 7:30am M-F, so he started getting up at 6:15am to run 3.5 miles on Tuesday and Thursday with Jared and Alex (and the dog). Owen, Weston, and Savannah have been running 2 miles on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 7:30am. This week they went 3.5 miles up to mine and Alex's normal running spot.

We have been playing kickball as family on Fridays on the school field. It's a little challenging with only 3 people on a team, so we have had to adjust the rules a little bit (such as no bunts and being able to throw the ball to home plate and get the runner out if the ball gets there before them). There have been tears almost every single time because Weston doesn't like to lose. But we're doing it for him because that is what he's missing most about school and one of his favorite things to do.

As mentioned, we started doing church at home. We were given permission to do the sacrament at home, so that has been a pretty special experience. We have a deacon, teacher, and priest (all the ones involved in preparing, blessing, and passing the sacrament on Sundays), so we have Jared prepare it, Nathan and Alex bless the bread and water, and Owen passes it to us. It was a special feeling our very first home church meeting. I got a little emotional as we started singing and as we said the opening prayer to begin our family meeting. That first Sunday at home, we watched a video about the church members in Ghana that weren't able to meet at church for about 1.5 years. They held meetings in their homes during that time. We have now been doing the same thing - hopefully for a shorter time, but it has been a blessing to study the gospel and take the sacrament in our homes. We have been rotating giving talks as well, so everyone is getting a chance to ponder a topic and share thoughts. I think our home church has been one of my favorite parts about staying at home. I miss the fellowship with other church friends, but we have had some good experiences learning and teaching at home. We were introduced to a home-centered study program in January of 2019, so the prophet was inspired to get us ready for home-centered church at HOME over a year before this pandemic started.

We have been doing some new things, like the drive by birthday celebrations with the signs and balloons. It's nothing like having a party with friends, but it's an interesting way to recognize someone on their birthday. The primary presidency also sponsored a drive by ice cream shop, which was fun for Weston and Savannah. We got to drive up and pick what kind of ice cream treat they wanted.

We also did a drive by funeral/memorial, which was a really sad thing to participate in. One of our friends from church passed away, so we drove by to pay our respects to her family. (It wasn't coronavirus, just other health issues). I started crying as soon as I saw her family, so it was hard to say anything, but we needed to be there and pass along condolences. I will miss singing in the choir with her, and we did a special musical number together with a small group a few years back. She taught Nathan and Jared for a couple years for primary and Sunday School. They sat in front of us at church most Sundays, so it will be odd not seeing her there when we return to church.

We haven't been hanging out with any friends, but we have talked to some friends on our doorstep. We have delivered some treats and been given some treats. We had to say good-bye to some friends that moved and take a social distancing selfie with them (it was hard not giving hugs). We'll miss them.

We have been playing games, playing on the trampoline, watching movies and episodes of Poldark, Durrells in Corfu, and Agent Carter. The kids have been building forts, mud holes in the back yard, playing with the dog, and lots of time with Legos. Owen and Savannah started piano lessons (a lesson in patience for me...) and Nathan and Jared are doing some cooking. Alex planted a garden and now harvesting lots of green beans. The apple tree is producing lots of apples, so Alex started making apple pie again.

I gave everyone haircuts (nothing new there), but this time I let Nathan practice giving Weston a hair cut. Perhaps he shouldn't have started with the moving target! Savannah cut her own bangs one day - a little short, in my opinion, so I tried to fix it by blending a little more bangs in with her new self haircut.

We haven't been out much, but we did a short hike one day. We also walked to the beach and played around there for a bit one day. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful place with nice weather. We also went backpacking. I'll do another post on that.

I have been doing some home improvement projects. Weston, Owen, and I demolished the old brick grill in the backyard (much to Alex's dismay). Alex wanted to keep it, but we've been talking about taking it out to make room for a basketball "court". I'm not sure when we'll get to putting in the concrete for the court, but the chain link fence and the grill won't be standing in the way anymore. We've done some yardwork and I took out the yucky carpet on the front porch (hoping to do some tile there soon). We did a couple other projects that needed to be done in the living room (a metal bar left over from a wall partition we took out when we moved in 8 years ago... it was about time to get that out...and touching up an area where we took out a curtain rod). We'll be working on the backyard fence soon and re-finishing our dining table.

I have been working on some other projects - a 20th anniversary book, recipe book, and transcribing Alex's mission journal (349 pages of barely legible writing!). I actually can read most of his writing pretty well, so I wanted to type it up so someone else could read it later on. Typed 102 pages from his mission journal.

We have been doing pretty well at home. Most of us are home bodies anyway, so we don't care too much about not getting out and doing the social events. We don't go out to eat very often anyway, and we have still been able to order take out a few times. It's been a little hard being around each other all day every day - we have our good days and bad days - but we still like each other and get along most of the time.

It's been an interesting time though, with only "essential" businesses open. We're entering a forced recession and on the brink of economic collapse. We're glad that Alex still has a job, although he wasn't able to get summer salary this year and will be taking a 10% pay cut. We feel bad for all those who have lost their job or took a significant pay cut. There have been a lot of mixed opinions about this pandemic. Some doctors say we are harming our immune systems by extended lock down and need to develop herd immunity, while others are still advocating isolation. It appears to be a highly contagious and widespread virus, but luckily those most affected are the elderly with underlying conditions. The death rate for under age 20 is close to 0. About 23% of deaths are aged 40-65 and about 75% are 65+. It seems like we should continue to isolate the elderly and high risk and get most people back to work since the elderly are mostly retired anyway. Re-opening the economy is such a controversial issue right now.

One of the thoughts I had during this crisis is that so many people are sacrificing their jobs for the health of others. The unemployment rate is skyrocketing. What are we willing to sacrifice for our own health? If underlying conditions present problems with the virus, one defense is to work on those underlying issues so we're stronger against the virus.

Anyway, this pandemic has been very divisive for our country. We'll see what happens and how we get through this crisis.

I was asking the kids and Alex what their favorite part about quarantine has been. I got some really varied responses. Alex's favorite thing was our family backpacking trip. Nathan liked getting to sleep in (which means instead of waking up at 5:15am, he has been waking up at 6:15am and now 7:00am now that seminary is over). Jared said he liked missing some of the tests and big assignments that he would have had during regular school. Owen said he liked getting to practice passing the sacrament. Weston said his favorite thing was not going to school. Savannah said she likes watching movies and playing on the trampoline. I think my favorite part has been home church - listening to my kids share their thoughts and sharing my thoughts with them. I like being at home with my family (maybe not 24/7), but family and home time is a favorite. I love that we haven't had all the other activities, distractions, and the busy schedule. This new normal isn't so bad for us - of course we still have a job.