Life with the Sees: Chapter 13--Quarantine Life

In full-disclosure, this entry will probably be a tad on the dramatic side, but how can you expect anything less when you throw a naturally dramatic person into a pandemic?

Here we are. Day whatever into quarantine. I’m unsure what day of the week it is. I’m told it’s Monday, but who knows.

Garrett and I are well. We are also still sane (for now). I have had bouts of cabin fever, but Mother Nature decided to be kind and provide some nice weather for a walk. Clearly I have not moved nearly enough in these quarantine days. After a 3 mile walk, my legs were disagreeing with my brain that walks are a good thing.

I’ll be honest, I never in my wildest dreams thought that anything like this would happen. Are we in some kind of reality TV show and all being secretly filmed? If so, I’m going to need a word with the producer. Yet, here we are. Real life.

I’ve tried really hard not to panic act or buy. I will say that going to the grocery store to find shelves barren is pretty unsettling. I will go ahead and apologize for my facial expressions as I watched people pile TP and soap high in their carts. I promise I tried to control my facial expressions, but as the meme goes, “if my mouth doesn’t say it, my face definitely will.” (insert air shrug) It’s a work in progress. For the most part, though, I’ve been able to get what I need. I’m still eagle eyeing for some TP. We are down to 3 rolls at the house, which should be fine for now, but makes me uncomfortable in these desperate times. My backup plan? Kleenexes or I’ve got Mom on speed dial to mail me a roll. For those of you not counting how many squares of white gold you’re using, and building TP castles in your homes, I will not control my facial features for you. I’m over here counting squares.

Garrett is being required to work from home these days (his worst nightmare). The week quarantine hit, was the week of Garrett’s comprehensive exams (think the Super Bowl of exams). He had a test a day for four days. Each test lasted hours, one lasting 6 hours and another that ended in 15 pages of answers. Despite having a nasty cold and working from home, he passed! Now he’s studying for the oral exams that are on Friday. Pray for him.

Working from home isn’t too different for me. I do it on the regular and love it. Currently my greatest challenge is trying to convince G that he doesn’t have to sit at the dining room table and can use the office desk. I’m a pro at mobile offices. What I’m not a pro at is online teaching. Doane canceled classes for the remainder of the semester and moved them to an online format. After being v dramatic about the entire situation (I mean, figuring out how to do GROUP communication online is not fun nor easy). I buckled down and spent a week changing my courses over. I’m currently now having online Zoom meetings with my students. They have deemed it helpful but weird, and I have to agree. It is especially weird when the cats decided to “guest lecture.”

Speaking of cats…they are simultaneously keeping me sane and driving me insane. Callie still thinks herself a queen and we are merely her subjects. She has taken to sleeping on the bed with us for the first half of the night. She growls if I dare shift my stiff body or even cough. Callie has taken to showing great affection in the evenings, though. Don’t let her fool you, it is simply her way of buttering you up to meet her demands. Most cases it is to take her outside. I enjoy taking them outside when it is nice, but nice days are inconsistent at the moment while her demands are very consistent.

Lily is a handful and a delight. Callie abhors her, but Lily also enjoys turning loving licks to full on attack on Callie. So, I don’t know that I completely blame Callie. Lily loves playing fetch with balls, sometimes even in the wee hours of the morning. She literally whines to be held or for you to throw her ball. She hates when I’m at my desk and does everything in her power to get me to leave (turning off the computer for example). She also cuddles and purrs much to our delight. I’m not ashamed to say that I do drug my cats with catnip everyday to distract them. It gives me a solid 5 minutes of reprieve.

Quarantine life is strange. I have this need to get out, and have had to stop myself from asking G if he wants to go to a museum or the zoo or out to dinner, only to remember that it is ALL CLOSED! These days going out involves curbside pickup Mexican food, walking, or the grocery store. You’d think my house would be spotless with additional time at the house, but I think it is harder to keep clean now. Painting supplies is scattered (I’ve been water-coloring to pass the time), Lily’s balls are everywhere (and if they aren’t, just look under the couch), as soon as my kitchen is clean it explodes because I’ve decided to bake, Garrett has atrocious looking math and genetics equations strewn on the dining room table… you get the point. Do you have these issues or is your house immaculate?

In the beginning of quarantine life, I was much like Lily…filled with angst. Partly because I had an exciting flight to NC booked. I had to cancel the day before thanks to good old COVID-19. I struggled for days before trying to decide what was best. It ended up being a good call because my flights got cancelled anyway and the state shut down. I plan on rescheduling, but the whole thing was a total bummer. I haven’t seen my folks since Christmas, and they have new puppies, and the weather was going to be nice, and I had awesome photo shoots lined up, and, and….I’m going to stop now.

Literally, I had to stop. I got an email from G from the room over asking me to print something. The printer decided to go on strike after G fiddled with it. I fixed it. Garrett came back in to say that he just remembered that he could print from his laptop and I never needed to stop and print the thing….(insert appropriate emoji). 26 pages of printing today. Will printer ink become as hot a commodity as TP in these apocalyptic days? I surely hope not.

Update: he cannot print from his laptop.

Update 2: he sent me another document to print entitled “The Big One.” It was one page, but is his application to be a PHD Candidate. Ahhhhh!

Quarantined. It’s currently a big deal. Things are closed. Plans cancelled. Sanity is being tested. When we tell our children about this, will they think it is a big deal? Are we (and I mean me) simply being dramatic about being stuck inside? Who knows. All I know is there are some extra feels happening around here. Even the cats are being extra.

As I’m, for all intensive purposes, trapped in our Nebraskan apartment, I will take this time to read more, germinate some seeds, work on some projects, and dream of the adventures that I’m in withdrawals for. Happy physical distancing (I prefer this to social. We can still be social online) everyone. May your day have well-behaved pets and kids, your kitchen stocked with food, your pantry filled with TP, your health to remain, your hands to be washed, and your minds to stay sane.

Don’t be afraid to feel the feels, be sure to look on the bright side, and whatever you do, don’t hoard the TP.

Since starting to write this, I’ve had to take Lily off my desk no less than 7 times, thrown her ball 5 times, and watched her fall on her face once. She doesn’t know what to do with herself, maybe I don’t either.