I woke up to my alarm this morning (and a text from my dentist's office saying they didn't actually have an appointment until later this afternoon (so scheduling online works...not so well)) and then just stayed there reading the news. Every day is simultaneously gripping and monotonous.
We've had to add on to our family motto, which began with ROT: Respect, Obedience, Tolerance. We've since had to add an F: Flexibility (Rachel was having a fit because she was all set up to do her playing test but then Zoë and Alexander went downstairs to play blocks and wouldn't be quiet enough to suit her standards (even though her teacher had said she fully expected some background noise) and started screaming at them to leave and they started screaming right back so I asked her what would be easier for the household—to move the babies to a new place and get them involved in a new game or to have her move to a new place and get set up again (a thing I'd help her to accomplish); clearly the second option would be easier on everyone if she could suck it up and do it but she resolved to stick out her stinky attitude (though she did move upstairs)). And since we added an F I figured we might as well add an L: Love.
So now we're over here ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing (because we'll definitely need a sense of humour to get through this)) instead of just ROTing.
Respect, obedience, tolerance, flexibility, love (and laughter).
ROTFL.
We've got this.
This morning Utah experienced an earthquake with a 5.7 magnitude (epicenter in Utah) so I was flooded with texts for our family members in Utah. They're all fine. But what a crazy thing to add to this worldwide craziness.
Canada and the US have agreed to close their boarders to non-essential travel, which makes me feel particularly trapped. I live so far south that we don't cross the boarder regularly anymore but I just like having it open. Like libraries, I guess. I want the option to go north if I want. My brother and sister are up there, my aunt, my cousins. It's a little scary to have it closed, to be cut off from home.
Months ago Andrew and I were scheming to go to Hawaii. He had a conference there, so we figured I'd just go with him. We were going to meet up with friends who live there. And then my brother moved there and it all just seemed so fortuitous. Andrew's dad would fly down to watch the kids, we'd go off to Hawaii and have a grand ol' time. But then we realized it would stretch our budget a little too far, so I decided to stay home and Andrew would head to the conference by himself (on a ticket we purchased with all our air miles from the past forever plus an additional $70). Needless to say, he's not going to that conference now, either.
At least I won't have to watch him go to Hawaii by himself! Now none of us will go to Hawaii (see how flexible we are with our plans)!
But we shudder to think what all these cancelled conferences will do for his faculty review. Cancelled conferences often lead to cancelled papers. He had another conference coming up in Europe this summer, which would have been a guaranteed publication...but alas, it's not likely to happen anymore.
I don't know how long this isolation period will last; lately I've been reading that it could be 12–18 months (long enough for them to create a vaccine and run the gamut of testing they need to do; I've also seen news reports of the first human tests of a vaccine...but who knows if it will work). So that's somewhat wild.
I'm trying to think of how to make spring break seem special for the kids. Technically it's Andrew's spring break right now, but he's been working like a busy little beaver, getting his class ready to go online and has had a handful of meetings and it's really looking nothing like spring break at all. But that's fine. Working is good. I'm just happy he has a job that he can do from home. We are very, very lucky (fortunate/blessed/whatever) in that regard.
I've already had family members either lose their jobs or have their hours cut way back and they're concerned (and rightly so) about how they're going to continue living on little to no wage. I'm concerned about the economic fallout of things, in general.
It's interesting how the world keeps on spinning.
We've had to add on to our family motto, which began with ROT: Respect, Obedience, Tolerance. We've since had to add an F: Flexibility (Rachel was having a fit because she was all set up to do her playing test but then Zoë and Alexander went downstairs to play blocks and wouldn't be quiet enough to suit her standards (even though her teacher had said she fully expected some background noise) and started screaming at them to leave and they started screaming right back so I asked her what would be easier for the household—to move the babies to a new place and get them involved in a new game or to have her move to a new place and get set up again (a thing I'd help her to accomplish); clearly the second option would be easier on everyone if she could suck it up and do it but she resolved to stick out her stinky attitude (though she did move upstairs)). And since we added an F I figured we might as well add an L: Love.
So now we're over here ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing (because we'll definitely need a sense of humour to get through this)) instead of just ROTing.
Respect, obedience, tolerance, flexibility, love (and laughter).
ROTFL.
We've got this.
This morning Utah experienced an earthquake with a 5.7 magnitude (epicenter in Utah) so I was flooded with texts for our family members in Utah. They're all fine. But what a crazy thing to add to this worldwide craziness.
Canada and the US have agreed to close their boarders to non-essential travel, which makes me feel particularly trapped. I live so far south that we don't cross the boarder regularly anymore but I just like having it open. Like libraries, I guess. I want the option to go north if I want. My brother and sister are up there, my aunt, my cousins. It's a little scary to have it closed, to be cut off from home.
Months ago Andrew and I were scheming to go to Hawaii. He had a conference there, so we figured I'd just go with him. We were going to meet up with friends who live there. And then my brother moved there and it all just seemed so fortuitous. Andrew's dad would fly down to watch the kids, we'd go off to Hawaii and have a grand ol' time. But then we realized it would stretch our budget a little too far, so I decided to stay home and Andrew would head to the conference by himself (on a ticket we purchased with all our air miles from the past forever plus an additional $70). Needless to say, he's not going to that conference now, either.
At least I won't have to watch him go to Hawaii by himself! Now none of us will go to Hawaii (see how flexible we are with our plans)!
But we shudder to think what all these cancelled conferences will do for his faculty review. Cancelled conferences often lead to cancelled papers. He had another conference coming up in Europe this summer, which would have been a guaranteed publication...but alas, it's not likely to happen anymore.
I don't know how long this isolation period will last; lately I've been reading that it could be 12–18 months (long enough for them to create a vaccine and run the gamut of testing they need to do; I've also seen news reports of the first human tests of a vaccine...but who knows if it will work). So that's somewhat wild.
I'm trying to think of how to make spring break seem special for the kids. Technically it's Andrew's spring break right now, but he's been working like a busy little beaver, getting his class ready to go online and has had a handful of meetings and it's really looking nothing like spring break at all. But that's fine. Working is good. I'm just happy he has a job that he can do from home. We are very, very lucky (fortunate/blessed/whatever) in that regard.
I've already had family members either lose their jobs or have their hours cut way back and they're concerned (and rightly so) about how they're going to continue living on little to no wage. I'm concerned about the economic fallout of things, in general.
It's interesting how the world keeps on spinning.
I keep instant-replaying "The world turned upside down" in my mind. If it was true in Hamilton's time, it is also true now!
ReplyDeleteYES! I had a friend who is a self-proclaimed historian say that until everyone has studied WWI and WWII in depth they should keep quiet because our time has NOTHING on that time. And I'm going...refugee crisis, pandemic, stock market crash, crazy governments...I think things are pretty level, frankly. The world is nuts!
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