Stay at Home Part 10

Except maybe not Stay at Home?

And, if you go out, don’t expect testing. And, if you get sick, treatment may or may not work. And that treatment may or may not be available. So nothing has really changed except staying at home is so boring so let’s go!

Sigh, I mean, it’s not that simple of course. Plenty of people are continuing Stay at Home. While others are eager to get back to “normal.”

One of the things that may be confusing to the future is how we are all in this tome together, and yet we’re experiencing it so differently. Depending where people hear their news, and what their circle of social media posts, they believe very different “truths”. And what’s difficult is that in this charged time, the entire conversation becomes an attempt to balance views and binary choices- either you advocate the “sacrifice” of vulnerable people or you advocate the “sacrifice” of economic well-being.

But can’t we have a third choice? A choice that considers public health and economic well being? After all, if we could track the virus with robust testing and tracing, maybe we wouldn’t need to be so paranoid. Maybe we could go to work or stores or school without feeling like our very lives were at stake. Imagine that. But instead of aggressively settling up mitigation, there seems to be a collective, “Whelp, good luck out there.”

And that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, people are doing their best to alleviate the effects of the virus. Many people are working really hard to change the story.

This week’s rough. I want to polish sparkles but I’m also worried. The narrative continues that “vulnerable people” can continue to shelter, and that is perceived as old folks, I think, because it’s thrown out as an easy answer, without realizing that many, many people are in that vulnerable category while also raising children and paying bills.

Sigh, enough wandering in the bigger stories of the day. Here in our little world, we are at nine weeks at home. My computer kinda died. I’m typing on a super old computer that luckily I kept around. I noticed that the trackpad in my computer wasn’t lying flat, which led me to wonder what could make a laptop not lie flat anymore. Which led me to swollen batteries. And that led to a recall notice for the year of my machine except my serial number wasn’t included in the recall. So then I needed to find someone to repair it which was another morning of calls that don’t translate into modern times. Things like, “Bring it to an Apple Store,” or have “Our technicians can assess the best repair.” So many things are designed for the old world. And I get it- it’s hard to redesign everything around a pandemic, especially when workers may not be in the building. But also, maybe we should be redesigning everything instead of acting like, “Oh, give it a week or two or three and then everything will go back to normal.”

Time to let go of the idea of “normal.”

I found a way to send it to them. So my working computer is at the workshop. Which makes distance learning with Ian extra difficult.

But we’re healthy. And I’m scrambling to figure stuff out as this drags longer and longer. But I don’t have the impossible choice of having to return to large workplaces or else tough luck.

I remind myself many times a day, “Yes, other people have it worse. Other people have it better.” That doesn’t invalidate what we’re going through, the challenges we face, the uncertainty and turmoil and frustration and anxiety.

At the same time, many many people do the right thing, not for recognition or quick riches, but because they care. Lots of folks are staying home and doing everything possible to care for communities. Thank you for that. It will be a challenge to post photos until that computer returns. I’ll do my best to keep checking in. I want all of us to feel less alone. We may be in seperate places, seperate towns or homes or continents, but I want you to be well. I want your family to be safe. I want for us to learn and grow and support one another.

At the same time, I don’t want to invalidate any of the very real and scary stuff that families are navigating through. We didn’t wander through this time of history with sunshine and flower petals and secure answers. We’re all doing our best in perilous circumstance. I see you out there. And I send you light and sympathy and solidarity. We are stronger together. These times show me that more than ever.

The good news is that it’s warm enough to jump in the water. We are super lucky here.

I hope that this post finds you and your family finding a little sunshine and safe adventures.