Probably the last Friday beer evening we'll spend out on the town—and we spent this one staying two table-lengths away from any other revelers, I'll tell you.
365_2020, Pandemic 2020, family, traditions How quickly things change. Last night when I returned from my shopping trip there was a message waiting from our schools telling us to be prepared for an important announcement the following morning. This morning we received the message that all extra-curricular activities had been cancelled for at least the next three weeks. This was disappointing to Calvin, who was looking forward to an upcoming band concert, but in the same message they assured us that school would remain open for the time-being as remote school was too challenging an option for our rural areas.
This evening, not twelve hours later, we received the message that school would be entirely closed for the next three weeks. On the heals of that message Calvin's other events cancelled one by one, first his dance competition, then his choir concerts, then choir itself, then dance itself. It is a sobering moment when you realize that the situation is making history, that you are part of making that history whether you want to be or not.
There are bright spots in the storm. Not an hour after the school closing message came in, as we were all feeling shaken and unsteady, the neighbors texted to invite us over for drinks, dinner, and shennanigans. We are so very fortunate to live where we do, amongst the people that we do, and spending the evening with this cohort set us a little more at ease, even if it's the last time we are able to congregate, as I fear it will be for some time. Still, we are all in it together.
365_2020, Pandemic 2020, community, friends 
This feels like a strange picture to be taking, and maybe an even stranger post to be posting. It is Wednesday, March 11. I shop every Wednesday in the late afternoon. That is what works out for my schedule and for the general planning of our week. Two years ago when we were getting ready to go to Disney World I was confounded when couple of the items on my list were hard to find. It was close to spring break and the as yet small selection of sun screens was rather picked over. Last year I did my Easter shopping a little later than usual and had to settle for second-choice candies and tidbits. Still, never have I ever encountered this kind of clearing out of shelves, probably in all my life time (unless it was that Lily Pulitzer fiasco a few years ago at Target).
A week ago I had a mild panic attack looking at the first reports of serious Covid-19 cases coming out of Washington. I put together my usual grocery list and just tried to breathe through it, but when I was already half-way to the store I realized I'd forgotten my shopping bags, and that set the dominoes falling. We had enough leftovers in the fridge to feed us for a few days so I abandoned my usual weekly trip for a very different kind of shopping experience, stocking up on enough paper and cleaning products and shelf stable foods to last a month, maybe a couple of weeks longer (but no more). It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be—I wasn't the only worried person out there and shelves in bulk stores like Costco were already emptying out, not to mention the lines, but I stumbled into the house just in time to heat leftovers for dinner, feeling relieved because I'd taken some measure of control over my situation. I had beaten the panic-beast into submission. For the time being.
Today I was again out for my regular shopping trip (this time I remembered my bags!), and the emptiness of the shelves refelcts people's growing worry. Maybe us worriers will find in the end that our planning was unnecessary, overkill, even, and this is the inner argument I hold with myself every day. How do we now the difference between preparedness and over-kill? I defined it for myself as a the fine line between being able to use everything you purchased within the time frame concerned versus being faced either with an excess of waste, or a waste of excess. And the way I see it is, even if no crisis hits, I will benefit from an entire month of not having to shop!
365_2020, Pandemic 2020 Longing for the day when I can just throw on a pair of tennis shoes for our hikes. 
Diving into Spenser's The Faerie Queene and loving it. 
365_2020, books, homeschooling, reading