Quarantine Chronicles: The Highlights

While the world is reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, a pessimist (or even a realist, in this case) could give you a list of what is going wrong in the world.

Examples:

• The economy is in the toilet.
• The world's most vulnerable are being hit the hardest.
• There's not enough toilet paper or hair-dye kits to go around.

But, in this trying time, there are things - silver linings, if you will - that I have discovered that I wanted to share with you. Perhaps they can cast some light onto you and your loved ones.

Things I'm thankful for in this time of isolation and stay-at-home orders: (in no particular order)

•  Sidewalk Chalk - The girls have been playing out on the driveway more frequently than in prior sunny days. It's an escape from the house and it's a creative outlet for the artists in your household.
•  The Internet - Can we please, for just one second, imagine what this would be like if this pandemic occurred during 1992? Not only would I have a terrible perm and a huge gap between my front two teeth, but we'd have to watch TV and play video games all day. Okay, I realize this doesn't sound as bad as I meant it to sound. We'd have to call the house phones of our classmates if we wanted to hear their voices. Zoom meetings (*more to come), Google classroom, and other e-learning applications wouldn't be an option for distance learning. Mom would have to teach us sentence structure, and Dad would have to teach us dividing fractions. What would I do without watching online versions of late night shows or watching "real mom" online content? We'd have to play far more board games and have more conversations with our families. We'd have to clean our rooms just to get some reprieve.
•  GrubHub, DoorDash, Instacart, PeaPod, and other food delivery companies - Talk about an essential business model! Can't (or Shouldn't) get out to buy groceries or dinner? Just have someone shop your list for you and deliver your items to your door! Nothing is better!
•  Zoom* - I realize this is not as good as seeing your friends, family members and colleagues in person, but if this is as good as it gets, I'll definitely take it. I've had some stressful days minimized by seeing friendly faces on their couches, and I hope this phenomenon won't disappear once things return to the new normal. It's one of those things where it's amazing we didn't do this before! Also fun is the Marco Polo app.
•  Oreos and Strawberry Milk - On a weekly basis, we have a dairy delivery that brings us white, coffee, chocolate and/or strawberry milk (along with other yummy treats). I have a new-found love for Double Stuff Oreos dunked in strawberry milk. Yum!
•  Loungewear - So what? I've been rotating three pairs of loungewear pants and t-shirts for the past month and a half. I even pulled my first "business on top, party on bottom" Zoom meeting the other day...and no one was wise to it.
•  Small Businesses - We love small businesses and have been trying our best to give them some extra love during this cuckoo crazy time. We've been purchasing gifts, clothes, food, beer, and tipping larger than normal when we can. I encourage you to shop local when you can.
•  Expanded Facebook Connections - I've noticed that I've opened up my Facebook reach since living in lockdown. It's nice to reconnect with old friends, especially when everyone is searching for connection these days.
•  Kahoots! Trivia - This trivia app has brought us some joy. They have lots of trivia topics to choose from, and you can even customize your own trivia game. It's great for family time.
•  Time to Organize - I've had a lot of time to do some projects around the house. Organize closets, stand up a relatively successful Poshmark store to clear out some of this clutter, wedding plan, clean up the yard, etc.
•  Family Time - Days are long, for sure, but it's great to be able to spend this time with family. Lines are blurring between homeschool and family time and "I need my space" time, but this is an unprecedented situation. We'll, hopefully, never live through a time like this again, but we have made some pretty amazing memories with one another while we're staying at home to help protect our neighbors.

I could probably go on, but I'll stop here.

What have I missed? Is there a hobby that you were recently reintroduced to or that you've tried for the first time? I'd love to know so I can incorporate some more tools into my quarantine toolbox.

I know things are hard, but we'll get through it and we'll all be stronger for it in the end.