Life in the time of COVID

It's been a very long time since I blogged. And by long time, I think over a year. We're going through some tough times and writing helps me figure stuff out.

So our current situation is this. My husband works at home and has for 15 years or so. I normally am in my office from 7am - 4:00pm, Monday through Friday. I've been home for about 10 days, working remotely due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Our son lives across town. He's a full time college student whose classes have gone all online for the same reason. He works part time for a local TV news station, and as of now, still goes in to work every weekend.

We're very fortunate and painfully aware of our privilege. We've got a house, a yard, a little money in the bank. We can handle our son's expenses as long as both my husband and I work. We've got good health insurance, and the kiddo can stay on our insurance until December.  We stocked up on food for us, and we took the kiddo on a huge grocery/supply run at the very start of this.

We've got location on our side as well. We're in Baltimore City. So we've got delivery options for meals, groceries, even pharmacy and booze. We're 5 miles from one of the best hospitals in the world and close to another 4 or 5. We've even got an Urgent Care two blocks from the house.

So everything is peachy and all we have to do is hunker down and ride it out.

Except - my husband has severe asthma and is in a high risk category. My father and his girl friend are 80. My mother in law is 94. We've got a dog that almost never stops barking. Our son can't drive due to a vision problem, and still has to get to work, even as public transportation is shutting down. My mom is in Alzheimer's hospice and the state has prohibited visitors.

Like everyone, we are testing all our self-care and coping skills. Virtual beer club sessions, meditation by zoom, lots of walks wherever we can find no people. I'm baking up a storm. My husband is gardening, writing, reading. I'm reading, chatting online, playing around on FB way too much, watching cooking shows. We see a lot of movies and binge TV shows.

We're coping and we're even having some fun. But we're also scared, nervous, and all too aware that life has no guarantees.