Wow! How the world has changed in a week! Last Sunday we all were joking about a week with "Springing Forward" and losing an hour of sleep, facing a full moon and Friday the 13th. For me it was also the week before Spring Break for my school plus the 5th grade camping trip to Sky Ranch. I was preparing for a crazy week but little did I know it would be the last "normal" week for awhile.
Friday was a wake up call. Suddenly we were working to prepare to not come back after only one week of spring break. We prepared supplies for our kids to take home for 1 to 2 weeks of working from home. Still...I don't think it really hit me that things were about to go crazy.
My hubby and I decided to pick up a few groceries before going home, knowing I would be home for the week of spring break and because rain was in the forecast. (If you know the reason for the name of this blog you will understand why we needed to stock up before MORE rain came in.) I think our trip to the store opened my eyes a bit to the hysteria that was about to overtake our country. My first hint was NO SHOPPING CARTS! I noticed the parking lot was full. I thought it was because I there earlier than my normal time to shop. Boy was I wrong! I stood at the door and waited for someone to walk in, returning an empty cart. What was happening?
NO TOILET PAPER! Seriously! How does a respiratory virus equal the need to clear the shelves of tp? I didn't understand then and I still don't! It is crazy! I was shocked to see the paper goods aisle at the store cleaned out. Not only was all the tp gone but very few roles of paper towels were left. My understanding is that wet wipes on the baby aisle also disappeared. Water bottles were gone. Eggs were in low supply. Pinto beans...GONE! Ramen noodles...GONE! Totinos pizza...GONE! But hey...there was plenty of cake mix and brownie mixes! LOL! I could live on those!
I laughed as I walked through the store. I watched people with carts that were overflowing pile one more something on top. I had a man push his way in front of me to look for a bag of pinto beans. I laughed...I probably shouldn't have, but I did. I would have given him a bag if I had found one. He settled for some rice instead. (Rice and beans...beans and rice...Dave Ramsey would be proud if I could have found some beans!)
I saw several friends and family while at the store. Many of us hugged when we saw each other (oops). I did ask a few friends if they were hugging before I hugged them. (oops again) We all just shook our heads at the crazy we saw happening around us. None of us were doing that panic shopping thing. Most of us were just grabbing a few things on our way home for the weekend. People gave us crazy looks...some even mean looks...when we joked and laughed about being teachers and not being afraid of another virus. Aren't we immune to everything? Haven't we been exposed to all the bugs by now? I know I feel like I have. This is another year without even having the flu and almost every one of my students had it! (Thank you Young Living Thieves oil!)
I haven't been back to the store since then. I'm a little scared to go. You see as a teacher we only get paid once a month on the 20th. I'm praying that there will be a little more peace and logical thinking by then. I'm hoping to find food and yes...tp! Living in our travel trailer we must buy certain types of tp and even that has been gone! I have not been one of the panic purchasers...but I will admit that some level of panic has started setting in. What if I didn't take this thing serious enough? What if all these people who were panicking and buying up everything were doing the right thing and I was the foolish one? What if....what if...what if....?????
That's when the palpitations started. I could feel the beginning of a really good panic attack starting as I read more and more about the shelves being emptied...seeing all the pictures online of empty shelves...hearing and reading everyone's stories about not being able to find what they need. My own daughter's story of not being able to find milk for my grand babies and my other daughter not being able to find wet wipes made me realize this thing might be a bit more serious than I was taking it. But still I believed it would calm down after the weekend and things would go back to normal. As of this posting, that is not the case. My parents went shopping today and still no tp!!!!
Okay, so the stores are going crazy. That'll calm down soon. Right? That's what I thought. Then the unthinkable. Worship is cancelled at our church. The decision was made to meet virtually instead of all together due to the CDC and the requirements of not more than 250 or 100, or 50, or whatever it was at the time, meeting together. What? No worship together? I'll admit I don't make it every Sunday to worship but during times of unrest, meeting with my brothers and sisters in Christ is what steadies my spirit. NOW WHAT?
I don't think any of us could imagine a world with no sports, no church services, no school, no dine-in restaurants, no gatherings of more than 10 people at a time. The new term "social-distancing" will no doubt be one of the top ten of the year. Are we over-reacting? Are our national, state and local governments going too far? What about jobs? How do we get paid if we are not working? Who will keep the kids when those who can work must go to work?
As a teacher, a mom, a grandmother, a daughter, a wife, and also a board member of a preschool, so many concerns and worries flood my soul. What do we do? How do we move forward during this time? Is it really as bad as they say or is this yet another thing that our media seems to blow up out of proportion just to scare us? (Yes, I thought that!) Do we go to extremes to help stop this or do we not let this scare us into not living normal? As I sit here and listen to the latest news I know we must take this more seriously than I had thought in the beginning. I wasn't one of those that said there was nothing to be afraid of but I also haven't been one of those locking myself in my house...
A nurse friend of mine got my attention. She posted a picture of those who were considered "vulnerable." I had felt safe. I had thought my likelihood of getting really sick if I was exposed was slim. I had really not worried about it any more than I do the flu until I saw her post.
I am one of those "vulnerable" ones! Asthma has been a part of my life since I was a baby. I know the feeling of not being able to breathe. It leads to a panic attack if I am not careful. I rarely fight with my asthma like I did when I was younger, but it is still there. It still reminds me often of my disability, especially during the spring and fall. I also have dealt with high blood pressure since I was younger and much skinnier! It is just one of those things that I inherited. My age puts me in a higher category for risk as well. I'm no longer considered "young" by most standards.
So now I am isolating as much as possible. I don't mind social distancing normally. I like my quiet time and my private space. However, now that it is being required I am struggling a bit. I had planned to enjoy this spring break being rained in and not getting out. I would reorganize our tiny living space. I would clean out my closet. I would read. So far I have done none of those. I have listened to the news, read every Facebook post about this virus and about school closings as well as how to do some distance teaching/learning. So far this hasn't been much a of break. Relaxing...no. Destressing...no. Sleeping well...nope. None of those things yet. Hopefully I will be able to relax a little in the next several weeks. We've just been informed that we won't have school again until after April 3rd. I'm praying maybe this will get better before then and we can return to a more normal life. That has been my prayer at least.
So what can we do? We follow the guidelines as best as we can. We honor each other by respecting a safe distance when in public. We stay calm and do some of those things that we never have time to do because we are so busy. Busy has been cancelled for many of us. Read a book, do a puzzle, play a game, go for a walk, be creative, call a friend you haven't talked to in a while, write a letter to a loved one, clean out a closet, work out. Take care of yourself and your family. Above all....PRAY! The truth is that the best thing and probably the only thing we can really do...take our concerns to our Father in heaven. Pray for this virus to be stopped. Pray for those who have gotten sick to be healed. Pray that those who can not work will be provided for and will find work during this time. Pray that those in poor health are strengthened and healed. Pray for our children to be protected and for them to not live in fear. Pray that we show Christ in all that we do during this time. Pray for one another.
Together we will make it through this. I may need you all to remind me of this as we go through the coming days. I do well most of the time but then that voice of fear starts whispering to me and panic starts setting in. Isolation sometimes makes it worse for me. If that is you also, please know you can reach out to me. Sometimes just hearing the voice of someone you love makes things all better. I pray peace be with you all. I'm sorry this has been so long. Lot's of processing on my part. Hopefully the next post will be some crazy story of life as we know it!
In Him....Denise
No comments:
Post a Comment