What a difference a month makes

On March 11th, our daily lives looked normal.  It was a Wednesday - the kids went to school, Roy went to work, I went to the gym, Riley had track practice after school, and the kids both had soccer practice in the evening.  But the conversations we were having weren't about only our normal and every day things.  Instead, they were very focused on potential upcoming changes due to COVID-19

... we were surprised schools hadn't been shut down here yet

... we weren't surprised the Rodeo was shut down that day

... we laughed at the toilet paper shortages and hoarding going on around the globe

... we checked the case count in different counties and cities and states

... we talked about what events had been canceled around the city/state/country/world

... we let the kids know that our Spring Break vacation wouldn't be happening

... we wondered whether the kids would even return to school after Spring Break,

... I compared notes with friends about what items/groceries they were shopping for (I reminded one friend to think of random things like Easter candy and tampons!) in case we weren't able to get things we wanted/needed.  

And then that night, the first case of coronavirus within the NBA emerged and there was an instant shift in the news and what I was reading online about how our lives would potentially look within a few days.  

But, the next morning still started out relatively normal - school, work, gym, grocery shopping ... but it had a very different feel.  People were more concerned and uncertain.  The grocery stores were more frenzied.  I saw some people wearing masks.  My grocery shopping included another trip to Trader Joe's (I had been a few days prior when I also went to Target for stocking up on Target items), Costco, and HEB.  Roy walked with me to HEB so we could get more of what we might need for a couple of weeks.  I was hearing from friends in other places about big changes where they were.  And that evening when Riley and I went to her school to start setting up for our big event I was co-chairing the next day, everything changed.  We found out the kids wouldn't be returning to school the following day or the week following Spring Break.  And at that point, we suspected they would likely not be returning for a lot longer.  But we didn't really know what that would look like or what else would happen around us that would look differently.  

For us, that was really the beginning of the 'everything changed by the day or even the hour' around the city/country/world.  It was hard to keep up with what was canceled, who was infected, who had school and who didn't, what travel advisories were in place, and whether there was any shortage of groceries.  We were well stocked at home with everything we needed and spent time relaxing, eating, watching a lot of movies, and taking it all in.

We've learned our new vocabulary words: 'social distancing' and 'flattening the curve' and 'Zoom meetings' and 'new normal'.  We've speculated when the NBA may return and whether the MLB would start at all.  We've enjoyed movies released early onto streaming platforms.  We've gotten back into Netflix and also signed up for Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN + (which is weird with no live sports to actually be watching these days!!).  We've got a great sense of what 6 feet looks like.  We've been amused by the impossibility of being able to find sidewalk chalk anywhere online.  The kids started online distance learning, which includes online assignments and meetings with their teachers and classmates.  We've texted and emailed and chatted with friends and family all over the world to see how their lives were impacted.  I haven't driven my car in over 4 weeks (but have been in the car with Roy 4 times for groceries twice and take out twice).  I haven't been to Target or Trader Joe's in over 4 weeks.  I've been to HEB only twice and Costco only once.  We haven't seen the faces of any friends/coworkers/family in person in over 4 weeks.  We've gotten a refund for some of our Spring Break tickets but are still waiting for others.  We've canceled our summer vacation to NYC.  And we're still wondering if and when the kids will return to school (seems as though our governor is more in line with our president in wanting things back to normal sooner rather than later).  And we made it through all of the Marvel movies - 22 or something like that (Leighton laughed at me on the first day they were off school and we watched one and I said I bet we could finish them before they returned to school!).

And we've started eating more meals and snacks all together as a family.  We've always had a pretty good track record of eating dinner together almost every night, but with soccer and sometimes Roy's work events and sleepovers/birthday parties and Leighton sometimes getting full going out with his friends after school, we weren't always sitting down together 7 nights a week anymore.  So it's nice to be doing that again.  Although, the one thing nobody says anymore is, "How was your day?" or "What did you do today?" or anything like that since we know every teeny detail about each other's movements morning, noon, and night!  We usually eat lunch all together now, too - we're on Leighton's school class schedule and eat when he has his break.  Having a snack together in the afternoon has also been a fun change (and makes me nostalgic for the "Is it snack time yet?" days when the kids were little ... I just reread my very first post on this blog about naming it!), especially when I've made some muffins or something we all share.  Also having time for me to go out with Roy while he's BBQing to have a drink with him instead of always rushing for whatever else we need to get done.  We have a lot of time for cooking and baking and eating and enjoying.  We appreciate this time as a family.  

So, here we are a month later.  What a difference a month makes!  I'm not sure anyone could have predicted exactly what this would look like now.  Just like we can't predict exactly what this will look like another month from now.

I've been trying to record as much of what I see around me when I take my daily walks (allowed under our Stay Home, Work Safe orders in our county while maintaining Social Distancing) so we can look back and remember.  I regret I didn't do more of that during our house flooding days in May 2015 or even with Hurricane Harvey in 2017.  Here are some pictures of what I've seen around when I've been walking at stores/restaurants and on sidewalks and at parks.  And also a few emails/tweets I've seen that I wanted to remember.

a couple over my shoulder wheeling their groceries home in two shopping carts

Shepherd is usually super crazy with traffic, but for a couple weeks it was very quiet and I could stand in the middle with no cars in sight

lining up for groceries

washing fruits and vegetables in some lightly soapy water

We Will Overcome Support Small Businesses

several businesses have boarded their windows

5:15 on a Friday evening on W Alabama - NOT the usual rush hour traffic!

Some people have put xmas and halloween decorations out with their easter decorations 

a very quiet and empty walk

I've seen various examples of letters like the above circulating online

high end steak houses are looking for ways to continue their businesses

a window apparently shot at or had rocks thrown at it, maybe?  two days later it was fully boarded up

I see lots of buses with messages, but this was the first one I was able to get a photo of

All basketball hoops were removed at parks around the city this past week

Curbside was the first wave of restaurant and grocery advertising, and now 'touchless' and 'contactless' are the big buzz words

the line to get into Central Market today was down to the road and wrapped back up the parking lot!  Eager Easter shoppers!

So let's see what things look like a month from today!