Today marks 1 year that we have officially been in this global health pandemic (declared as such on March 11, 2020). Friday, March 13, 2020, was the day we learned that school would be closed for a month while everyone tried to figure this all out. Wahoo – an extended spring break!
Well, yeah, not quite.
As we all know, our schools stayed closed for the rest of last school year and Ryan worked from home until August. Masks have been mandated since then. Social distancing is now (supposed to be) the norm. Our kids started this next school year virtually and have been so since September. Life as we knew it became a little topsy-turvy.
And we had it easy. Horribly, a staggering 2.6 million+ people have perished from this virus so far worldwide, with over 500,000 of those right here in our own country. Inconceivable.
However, around here…
I *think* things might be starting to change.
I *think* we might get through the worst of this sometime this year if people can just keep their acts together. Yes, still wear your masks. Yes, still stay away from me if we’re strangers and I have no idea what your COVID-19 business is. Yes, still keep gatherings to a minimum.
I *think* I can feel a little hope creeping in that we might all (and by all, i mean all 7 of my immediate family) actually get to the other side of this without getting sick. There is 1 caveat to this coming in a few paragraphs, though, by way of school…
I *think* I’ll feel comfortable enough to do more outside our home and close bubble sooner than later.
There are a lot of factors at play here, though, to make all these *thinks* come true:
- We need the vaccines to keep getting here readily and for everyone to actually get them. I’m eagerly awaiting my turn, hopefully come May. That’d be a great birthday present!
- We need people to stay smart. Don’t crowd yourselves into a bar, restaurant, movie theater, shop, what-have-you just because you have your vaccine and a mask. Does anyone else around you? Has anyone else around you just been exposed and nobody realizes it yet? Did any of those mask-less patrons next to you just sneeze on your back and you didn’t know it because it’s too crowded?
- We need the 3 Ws to stay in play – wear a mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance.
Numbers are encouraging since the vaccines have come out, but we are definitely not out of the woods yet. We are still in this thing, and I just hope enough people keep remembering that to keep us all safe. I’m ecstatic that you’ve gotten both of your doses and are seemingly in the clear for now. I haven’t, though, and neither has my family.
And yes, after 3 full quarters even though I said we’d go back after 1 if everything stayed healthy and open, we are going back to in-person school for the final quarter of this school year. The big 3 had all decided they wanted to stay virtual and with their current teachers for the rest of the year when the school board threw us a curveball – at the start of Q3 a month or so ago, they began the “phase-in” process, whereby all grades eased into a 4-day-a-week in-person schedule instead of the 2-day-a-week in-person blended model. Our whole district is now in person 4 days a week with Wednesdays remaining asynchronous for the remainder of this school year, and so far it sounds like it’s so good.
So we’re gonna give it a shot. Della really wants to be back in the classroom for a little while before moving up to middle school next year, and I know Lana and Morrison want to be at the same school with her one more time. Fortunately Della and Morrison will get to see their current teachers at recess duty (assuming they stay the virtual teachers for their grades) and Lana can still pop into her teacher’s Wednesday office hours since they’ll now be at different schools, because they will all miss their teachers terribly. I’m going to be a wreck! For as much as I can feel the cabin and spring fevers creeping in for all of us and know they’ll love being back at school, I’m going to miss them terribly. These are 3 giant pieces of my heart and soul with whom I’ve been lucky enough to spend every day of the past year. We’ll never have time like this together again. Well, I’m assuming not, but after last year I guess I shouldn’t say that with too much certainty. Wish us luck!
Spring is in the air, and hopefully soon less coronavirus will be, too. This March is definitely different from last March – no 50-lb. bags of flour and beans to stock our basement pandemic shelves, no worrying about running out of toilet paper since all the store shelves were raided and empty, no constant family game nights, no homemade pretzels and countless loaves of homemade bread being made, no cutesie little pandemic art projects. I think we were all over that a while ago. Now we just want to be able to move on for good.
Stay safe, my friends. Stay safe.
