08 June 2020

Set the Phasers to Two

I woke up owly and sad yesterday morning, which is super unusual for me.  I guess with the world being on fire, it was my turn to feel that way. Also I just can't get a grip on my thoughts.  

Context/Update: Everyone here is safe, we are far from Seattle.  I will say that the trouble in Seattle is not the Protesters but mainly the white-nationalists and anarchists.  The protests in this state have been mostly peaceful. The protests in the cities surrounding us have been peaceful.  That's about all the energy I have for that so in a zippy twist, let's talk about the pandemic response:

Back to yesterday: I had to decide if walllowing was the thing to do or if Get Over Yourself was the thing. My guess was it was going to be a combo-platter.

Kevin brought me coffee and went out to the shop while I got ready for the day.  It was raining so I decided that holding the couch down, reading magazines, and watching HGTV was the goal to accomplish today.  I settled in with a cozy blanket, HGTV, and a huge stack of magazines.

Then Kevin needed help with the racecar so I reluctantly put on shoes and a hoodie then went outside.

As if the gods themselves sensed my mood, there was Nephew.  I haven't seen him in months, which is super unusual for us.  He's like my son and I didn't realize how much I missed him.  "Are we doing this?" he says as he hugs me.  We're in Phase Two now, hugs are allowed again.  He's one of like three people (adults) that I will hug.  So this was big, is what I'm saying.

AND, Sweet Baby is here too.  He was walking with his grandma and she called him over to say hi.  He walked directly to me, monkey crawled up onto me and hugged for minutes.  All is right with the world.  

We watched while he rode his TWO wheeler, WITHOUT training wheels up and down the driveway.  I took a million videos,  Then we spent time down at the creek throwing rocks, playing with sticks and doing all things a four-year-old boy loves.  I loaded my phone with videos, still shots, and have photos banked for the instagram.  All good things.

Kevin was working on a fuel experiment (almost too nerdy for me, believe it or not) so it feels like he talked to every friend he has between Maryland and British Columbia.  For him though, that is his happy place: in the garage talking to his friends about all things racecar.

The landscaper was here so our yard is no longer looking like a jungle. Because of weather and the Stay Home Order, he hasn't been out here since October. Even though I've been working in the garden and yard, there are things I simply cannot do. Kevin works thirteenousand hours and can't manage those tasks and all his other responsibilities.  So, we hired a landscaper last year and he's the nicest man. He doesn't make me feel like Lady of the Manor having her gardens manicured.  The point being: that was one more return to normal.  I missed that more than having a haircut, I'm telling you.

Oh! Haircut!  Kevin went and had his hair cut.  Our friend opened her shop on Saturday, as early as was allowed and was booked the whole day.  She was skeptical that it was Kevin and I who cut his hair but eventually accepted it.  Kevin, who had previously said "I don't know that I'll pay for a haircut again" said emphatically, multiple times, "I FEEL SO GOOD."

AND, surprise of all surprises: the stylist looked at my hair and said "Oh! You don't need a haircut!"  I had just trimmed the ends a few days prior but I must have figured it out enough that I passed her inspection.  Kevin, always having my back, a little panicky said "Remember, she's growing it out so she hasn't needed it cut."  So, high five me.  And Kevin.

All these things made possible by the approval for Phase two, which means restaurants will be open with strict guidelines and stores that were deemed "non-essential" MIGHT be reopening.  Also, as mentioned, stylists will be opening. Small gathering are okay. It's a tiny step toward normality.

The big conversation in this area is the contact tracing.  For example: you would have to sign in at a restaurant with name, age, and contact info during Phase Two.  There is a little controversy about sharing personal information.  I have to admit - and I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all - that it does give me pause.  But overall, I understand the need for it.  I just don't think I need to go to a restaurant That Badly.

The contact tracing made me think about who I've actually seen and been in close proximity with (two separate things, we now know) over the past ninety-plus days.  I see Kevin, of course.  I see his parents but at a distance and infrequently. I see the office manager at work maybe once a week and we keep a far distance the whole time. I have seen my BFF at the park. I only go into grocery store because their health practices are So Good.  But it's a five minute trip usually with mask and sanitization. 

My point is that I see maybe five people.  Kevin's exposure is more with being at work but they keep good social distancing and sanitizing practices plus he showers when he comes home.   But the theory goes that everyone he is in contact with, I am now in contact with.

It just made me think in a finite way about exposure, something I wouldn't have thought about before other than avoiding someone I knew was sick so I didn't bring it home.

Meanwhile, we have friends in the Southwest, Midwest, and East that all have varying degrees of pandemic response.  In the Midwest, I would summarize it as "Meh, if it happens, it happens. Don't tell us what to do."  The East has been from complete lockdown to modified lockdown.  The Southwest...well, it's kind of like the Wild Wild West there.  There may be policies in place but the enforcement of said policies are a whole different topic.

The Canadian border is still closed so we haven't seen our friends in about ten months.  Just the creepy factor of not being able to cross the border is enough to scramble my brain.  It is scheduled to open at the end of the month and we still have to wait to see what, if any, travel restrictions there may be.

All the summer festivals have been cancelled, including one that is an annual family event.  I am so relieved because we've been trying to get out of it for years.  It's an over fifty-year tradition but for us, it's time to let that tradition go.  This will hopefully give us an easy segue to that.  This is like the One Thing I've thought "Oh, thank the gods that was cancelled."

We missed  Kevin's birthday, mother's day, our anniversary, the Little's fourteenth birthday and a handful of other events.  We have two memorial services pending (non-Covid related) and a postponed wedding

Like Kevin has said "At some point we have to start going back. Someone is going to have to do a thing and just hope it works out."  

Apparently this weekend was the time that we had to do a thing: Return to normal as we know it right now.  Because Normal is going to look different, not only in a few days, weeks, months but hopefully in the future as a whole.

4 comments:

Swistle said...

I am seeing a fair amount of the "Well, we have to go out SOMEtime" argument among my local friends---but I'm not seeing how that translates into "So it might as well be nice and early, even for activities we can absolutely live without doing!" It seems like waiting longer for unnecessary things (like, I kid you not, escape rooms and bowling) is well worth it: safety will improve with time one way or another---either by getting a competent administration that starts working on dealing with it, or else through the natural gradual increased experience/knowledge among medical professionals, or if nothing else by continuing to keep hospital admissions low and manageable.

Anonymous said...

I got my hair DONE - highlights, color, cut, everything - but mostly because I knew my stylist was out of work, her husband likely was (and he was). Plus her parents both died (non-covid) and other family drama - so I felt good way over-tipping her.
We're in the midwest (Illinois) and it really is ALL over the map. I'm near Chicago so we've been really careful - finally ate a meal with my parents and sister's family this weekend - before that it was dropping off/picking up on the porch and talking from 10 feet away. Restaurants are now open for outdoor seating, more stores opening up.
But honestly, other than the grocery store and cautiously seeing friends, I'm not ready to go out and do much more than that. Wisconsin is like "whatever". Indiana is opening up. Iowa didn't even have much going on? And the bottom 3/4 of Illinois is basically the south so....

Gigi said...

I was utterly dismayed to talk to a co-worker last week who said, "Oh, I've not been staying in or wearing a mask."

Between that and all these fools not being cautious is why our hospitalizations have been increasing during Phase Two.

Surely said...

It really has been interesting...stunning...dumbfounding...I'm not sure which words to use so let's use all of them...the All or Nothing approach with this. For us, we will still limit our trips anywhere and use masks, etc. even now that we are in Phase Two.

We did go hang with friends the other night and it was only because it was outside and no touching. A tiny step forward from not seeing anyone at all.

My All the way point was hugging the Nephew and Sweet Baby. It wasn't a want, it was a need at that point. Maybe not the best idea but totally worth it for me. I stayed away from the in-laws afterward because of the new exposure. (another win, maybe, lol)

Swistle: ESCAPE ROOMS!?!?!! Escape.Rooms? ESCAPE ROOMS. Seriously.

GiGi: the not wearing masks like it's a Badge of Honor and Courage just makes me stabby. Kevin was unexpectedly vocal about it in the hardware store the other day. (something broke so it was essential but felt weird all the same) Where I live, numbers have slowed to a crawl with some days of no diagnosis or deaths.

Anonymous: Exactly! It's consistently inconsistent among states, counties, towns. That is frustrating.
I'm trying to think of what I really want to do when it's time. I think a restaurant is going to be overwhelming now. I think it will be something like Target or the second hand shop.
And YES, Over Tipping is a thing. We're going to go broke just with the overtipping. lol. But we want our friend's businesses to survive so it's worth it.