Day 2 – Sunday, March 15th, 2020
Sunday Morning WWF & The Egg Hunt
My brother Mike and I loved to watch WWF wrestling every Sunday morning at 10 AM. Too often though, our mother would insist we leave the house prior to the end of the hour-long mania so we could get to Mass in time for the 11:30 AM start. We had to serve a lot too so that cut into our wrestling time even more.
I cannot tell you how many times my brother and I would secretly wish for Mass to be cancelled so we could see the end of the main event – always saved for the last match. These were pre-DVR times and these matches were important to us kids.
Sometimes you have be careful what you wish for. On Sunday, March 15th, all Masses at our parish were cancelled. I’d like to tell the 12-year old me that having Mass cancelled isn’t as cool as I though it would be.
I was against getting a dog five moths ago, but now he has become a part of my routine. Although others are willing to get up with Frisco early in the morning, I generally do it because it forces my day to start consistently at around 6 AM.
This morning, my viewing of choice was “Hoarders.” I should be watching the news but I was inspired by all of the empty shelves appearing at every grocery store in town. The unknown has an ability to bring out the worst in people.
Without school next week and increased time on my hands, I figured it was time to maybe get a few projects complete around the house. The trim around a new sliding door in the sunroom needed painting and then I figured I would folow that up with the stairwell and upstairs hallway. We have been in our house for three years now and I have slowly been painting every room in the house to cover up the flat, brown stock paint color that the previous owners had completed before putting the house up for sale. These projects would keep me busy for a little while at least.
Amy’s job is still business as usual so she went on the road to western Kansas to check out some of her offices. We joked about her being stuck in western Kansas and that this might be the last time I see her for awhile, but in retrospect, I might not have been far off from the truth. I proceeded to start my painting projects after she left town.
One of my daughters wanted to make a milkshake so she asked if she could go to the store and get some ice cream and I said, “sure” but I asked her to grab any toilet paper or eggs if she saw any while she was at the store. The toilet paper was cleaned out but as for the eggs, here is the conversations that took place:
“Dad”
“Yes?”
“They have one carton here but four of the eggs are broken, do you still want it?
“No, I’m good, thanks for checking.”
“That’s Probably good because two of the eggs are missing. Dad! Somebody stole two eggs!”
Who steals two damn eggs? Somebody actually pocketed those things and took them home.
I turned on the 2007 Texas vs. Kansas Big XII Tournamnet game, but the game gave me no joy so I switched over to the Joe Biden/Bernie Sanders debate because I was curious what a candidate debate looks like without an audience. It was odd. Eventually I turned on the news to hear that the CDC was recommending no crowds over 50 for the next eight weeks. Eight weeks would be May 10th. My graduation from the University of Arkansas is scheduled for May 9th. I finished painting the stairwell, drank one of my daughter’s milkshakes and then drank a beer in my freshly painted sunroom. While checking my phone for updates, Ohio and Illinois had announced that they will be closing all bars and restaurants. It is staring to become surreal.
I decided I probably needed to be at the store by 6 AM tomorrow when it opens and see what kind of supplies I could find at that hour.
Day 3 – Monday, March 16th, 2020
Panic Shopping & HairNation
I woke up at 5:30 AM today and made a store run. Dillons was opening at 6 AM so I wanted to try my luck as soon as they opened up. It was not as crowded as I thought it would be but it was hard to look people in the eyes. We all had the same uncertain feeling about the unknown so it was an eerie environment. I did score a few hard to find items like toilet paper (I only took one pack), some ground beef and chicken and some eggs. However, there were no frozen vegetables, potatoes or rice. I did pick up the girls a dozen donuts so they would have a snack waiting for them when they got out of bed. I do want them to have some level of normalcy.
I went into my workplace to pick up anything I would need to work from home and I also took care of some administrative tasks. My district is working hard to provide assurances to all employees regarding financial security so that brings some relief to all. While driving home I heard a message on my HairNation channel on SiriusXM that programming had added a “Coronavirus” Channel. Anytime you get in my car you will always find my radio tuned to Channel 39, which is HairNation. Today I tuned my radio to Channel 121, the Coronavirus Channel.
After taping off the hallway and getting it painted, I gathered up all of our tax documents because we had our tax appointment the next day. I was hoping that one possible by-product of this virus would be to have tax filings delayed past April 15th. We had a child age out of the tax credit last year so I knew we would owe but I wouldn’t mind putting off that payment for a few months with all of the upcoming uncertainy about the economy. I was beginning to understand what was becoming a new reality both socially and economically. I talked to the girls about tightening things up, only going out for necessities and only spending money on essentials.
That night, neighboring Johnson County announced that schools would be closed until April 6th and that all bars and restaurants would be closing for fifteen days. I would guess that Douglas County and Lawrence weren’t going to be very far behind.
Day 4 – Tuesday, March 17th, 2020
Kansas Governor Drops the Hammer
I woke up early, watched some news and then answered some email from staff. I did not have many great answers for them other than to take care of each other and hold tight until a solid plan is in place. They are antsy to work so we focused on connecting with students to keep lines of communication open as we work to establish on-line education plans. Our refugee in our house received word that she could head back to her campus during a certain window to gather her belongings so she left the house early and hit the road for a long drive ahead.
I cleaned up headed downtown to my tax appointment. Since I was downtown, I decided to get a haircut knowing that I might be going into hibernation for awhile and I might as well look good while doing it. There were only two stylists working because the other two had to be home with their children because school was not in session. I needed to update a tag for my daughters car but couldn’t get in because they were limiting appointments at the county courthouse in order to enforce “social distancing.” I was given a number to call and set up an appointment. I was continuing to feel the trickle down effects of this virus.
I started getting email notifications of cancelled spring activities because the first high school track meet was scheduled for March 31st and we knew without school in session that wasn’t going to happen.
Now cities are shutting down. San Francisco is self-quarantined and New York City is beginning to take measures to do the same. Hotels are down to 15% occupancy and beginning massive lay-offs of their employees. Then we got word that the virus has arrived in Douglas County. A 20-year man who had previously travelled to Florida had tested positive. It was time to head to the liquor store.
After the liquor store run, which by all accounts is booming in sales, I decided to swing by the Thunderdome and check the supplies. Not one damn egg. No TP. No macaroni and cheese, no rice, no ground beef but I did find a sack of potatoes!
Shortly after coming home from the liquor run and fortuitus potato find, Kansas established itself as a trailblazer in responding to this pandemic. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly ordered the physical closing of all K-12 schools in the state – the first state to cancel classes the rest of the year. Any hope of returning to school this semester was gone. Worse, any hope for my senior daughter to have a prom or graduation or any kind of a track season were gone too. Thankfully, Amy’s work had sent everyone back home so she was there when we had to break it to the girls. We also had to break it to them that as a result of this closing, they weren’t going anywhere for awhile. Our family was now on lockdown. Kids weren’t happy to hear that news. I don’t blame them. They will need to grieve for a while and then adjust as best they can. I feel bad for them. My heart breaks.
The liquor store run came in very handy that night as I sat in our sunroom with my wife. That was my night to grieve too.
That trim sure looked nice though.
Current Mood:
This moment makes you appreciate things that are often taken for granted because we assume they will always be there.
Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) – Cinderella
#ucandewitt 