Ok, I have really fallen off the blogging wagon this year. But there are 2 reasons- one big for the world and one big for our family.
I've been seeing all these posts saying "A year ago I didn't realize it was the end of my normal life". I read an article that it will be our "flash bulb" moment, one where we remember exactly where we were when we heard that school/church/everything was closing down for "a few weeks". So here's my experience.
In February 2020, I was talking with someone when they said "Man, this coronavirus stuff sounds serious!" And I kind of blew that off. We had lived through the Ebola AND Zika scares in Miami, and both of those had been majorly overblown. So I assumed it was going to be that for us as well. But as time went on, we saw that it was beginning to be just as bad as it sounded. But life was still moving on in Visalia. I was training for a sprint triathlon that I would do in May. This was our week before the lockdown... see if anything seems out of place.
We went to the Blossom Festival in Sanger and ran a race:
We saw the blossoms:
We went to church... I remember even making a joke that James gave someone else coronavirus because he drank out of her sippy cup at nursery. (Notice Cora put on her makeup on the way to church without us knowing)
We went to preschool:
We encouraged sibling rivalry:
We got ready for St. Patrick's Day:
AND, in a moment of genius, we bought a trampoline for our backyard. THIS photo below is my "last normal picture".
We knew something was coming because March Madness had been cancelled and church had been cancelled. My parents came to visit to see the blossoms, but about an hour after they got to our house we got the call that the school district (and, by extension, the preschool) were cancelling classes until spring break to try to slow the spread of the virus. Everyone went into apocalyptic mode. The toilet paper shortage is still something that sounds surreal. James threw out half a roll of toilet paper the other day and it brought me right back to that mindset. At least we don't have to worry about that anymore!
What was supposed to be a fun weekend looking at the blossoms with my parents turned into "Ok, how can we get our emergency preparedness ready so I don't leave the house?"
While many of our friends and family began working from home, and college students left their apartments and went back home, Brandon kept working with the sick people. When you hear about the bodies being stacked in refrigerated trucks in NYC, you start to panic about the health of healthcare providers. I can now safely say I was super depressed. Brandon was exposed to Covid for the first time in only the SECOND week of lockdown. I cried for hours thinking about him being on a ventilator, and what would I do if he died? Etc. etc. etc. I didn't want to get out of bed... I was PANICKING. And a big part of that was that I didn't have any outlet. I am NOT a homebody by any stretch of the imagination, so to be forced to be at home suddenly was awful. Cora was struggling, because she loved preschool and didn't understand why she couldn't go back. And so I was trying to be a good strong parent for her while I was freaking out.
Thankfully, the fog lifted after a few weeks. I want to update about our first few months, with the "daily post" I put on social media. But our year was so hard and so great at the same time. I can't believe it's been a year already. But looking back now and seeing how awful I felt (and how scary it was), I feel hope. Cora is back at school, even just for half a day. We get to go to church every other week, even just for sacrament meeting. I can go to the gym outside (I REALLY missed the gym, even though I can't do the classes right now). Brandon is still working with sick people (and brought Covid home), but we made it through that fire. He is now vaccinated, along with our grandparents and quite a few friends. And thanks to the parameters being changed to qualify for vaccination in California, I can now get my vaccine this week! (My doctor strongly urged me to get it as soon as possible) This nightmare will not be over for a while. But we are moving in the right direction. Hopefully by end of year 2 we will have some serious steps taken toward our "new normal".
