Writing, trying to stay normal

(Our teacher celebration b4 it got crazy)

I haven't been inspired lately. It's been a long winter and I've spent most of it sick or just slightly under the weather, as they say. And now the world is sick and we've only just begun. We are shielding ourselves and others by staying home; social distancing.  Others are just plain greedy sick, grabbing more than their share of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, water, produce, soaps, etc.

Today I stopped into to see two friends working at a small shop downtown and while we chatted, staying a few feet from each other, another woman burst into the store grabbed one solitary candle and told us she had just returned from Florida. The rest of us took a few steps back and the shop owner even said "well please don't breathe on me". Now granted I didn't have to stop in the shop to visit yet my thought was why on earth upon return of travel would you feel the need to stop in a local shop to buy one candle?  This is equal to buying extra toilet paper because it shows a lack of empathy about others.

This is where we are at. I worry every time I cough or sneeze. We are trying to hold together some form of normalcy in the midst of a pandemic with no leadership from the top in our country.  The two school districts in our county will not go back to school until April 13th.  The trickle down for this will be far-reaching as well; graduation, dance recitals, dance competition all will come to an end. The world as we know it has changed ~ R.E.M. (on replay in my brain constantly).

So what have I been up to to occupy time over Spring Break when I normally would be about town, hanging out with friends.  We've met several times with friends over FaceTime which felt so good to reach out and connect with friends in town and out of town. We had a virtual meeting with cocktails with our theatre group~ so much fun to arrange about 7-8 people on FT messenger video chat. We've had happy hour with my husband's family via FaceTime. And tonight we are eating dinner with friends over Zoom. Next week I have a few school meetings over Zoom to figure how best to take care of our students and families. I'm trying to keep on a schedule of activities otherwise you can just spend the day flying the sofa...

My list:

I'm reading Ta'Nehisi Coates' The Water Dancer.
I'm watching Unbelievable, Contagion, Next in Fashion, and Virgin River on Netflix, all great but I highly recommend Unbelievable based on a true story and frustrating as hell until the end.
I've played around with video taping myself reading stories for students.
I'm deep cleaning parts of my house.
Today I made bread for friends and they are picking it up from my front door.
Connecting with friends.
Praying.
Waiting for my daughter to make it home.

What are you doing with your extra time?