...was what will be remembered as the last day that life still resembled normal. Bryan went to work before we were up. We were on spring break, so we spent the day mostly at home doing laundry, etc. Bryan had meetings that evening, so all the kids came with me to what turned out to be Brett's last basketball practice.
All of Brett's basketball season has been canceled. This year was exciting for him because he had made it to the "B" team, which plays full court. The last two years, he had played on the half-court team that plays 3-on-3. March 11th was the last day of the NBA season, and the sports world imploded from there. Bryan came home that night and told me wrestling would be canceled. I didn't believe him. Thursday, I took the boys to the barber (for the last time in the foreseeable future) and Lydia had what turned out to be her last piano lesson (in the foreseeable future). Reggie's wrestling season was essentially canceled. There is still a ray of hope that NYWA may host an open state tournament at a later date. The NCAA canceled March Madness, and the wrestling championship. It was going to be held in Minneapolis this year, and I had bought tickets to surprise Bryan for his birthday.
Friday, Bryan's parents came to visit, and we made plans to gather for Easter. That won't be happening. I'm so glad they came when they did. Church was canceled on Sunday morning, and that is when our governor would officially cancel school statewide for two weeks. The two weeks was to be a time for schools to plan for "distance learning". In a matter of four days, everything in our calendar other than medical appointments had been canceled.
By Wednesday the 18th, the therapy and medical appointments shifted to virtual appointments. Reggie's wrestling school (that he does year-round) had also moved to an online format, and track, baseball and softball seasons have been postponed indefinitely. It was also the last day that Bryan went to the office. He set up a temporary office in a corner of Brett's bedroom, which is located where he will not be as distracted during the day.
We've kept busy at home. We made traditional St. Patrick's Day food and sugar cookies.
We play games almost every day. The kids have been playing with Lego a lot.
For the next week, we felt pretty free to move about while practicing "social distancing". Bryan or I would do our shopping without much thought and we'd go to the various parks in our area. We did two things we have never done since we've had kids: got pizza delivered to our house and drove through Culver's for ice cream sundaes. The kids and I went to pick up our meat order from our farmer and detoured to a state park over an hour away. But I was starting to feel a bit anxious about things like letting the kids go into the gas station to use the bathroom (because the ones at the state park were locked).
Things that seemed strange or foreign even a few weeks ago have started to feel common place - conducting almost all of our business online, including appointments and attending church in our living room. We've even attended a virtual birthday party, which turned out to be a bit of a bummer (no cake!).
Meanwhile, schools were crazy busy preparing for distance learning. The middle school set up a drive-through delivery for kids who needed chrome books. At the elementary level, bags with two week's worth of school work, books, and supplies were assembled and delivered via the bus routes.
On Friday, March 27th, the governor's order to "stay-at-home" went into effect. Initially, it was for two weeks, but he is already saying it will likely be extended until May. Since then, we have barely left the neighborhood. The kids have seemed to settle into life at a slower pace and essentially only having each other to interact with. I mean, 90% of it is fighting, but I still believe it would be harder for children without siblings. Tag on spring break, and they have had a full four weeks of being each other's best/only in-person friends. It warms my heart when, after being tucked in for the night, I can still hear them calling each other on their Alexa devices! They officially started their distance learning on Monday, and we'll just say it's had it's ups and downs. I will write more about that later.
This post is not meant to minimize all the suffering and hardship that is happening worldwide. I am very well aware that our lives have been relatively unscathed thus far, and for that I am grateful. But this blog is a journal recording our family experiences, and nothing more.
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