Life during the Coronavirius

Time for another update! Not much has really changed, since my last post. We are still in quarantine, which means work, play, home cooked meals, bike rides, movies, etc. I can't tell if time is going quickly (it's been a full month of this) or slowly (is it only 9am?). In some ways time doesn't really exist besides the fact that Monday - Friday are still work days for the grown ups and school days (well at least partial school days) for the kids.

Anyway, I've been reading a baseball writer from New Albany named Craig Calcaterra a good bit. He is very active with twitter and is doing a daily Pandemic Diaries. I can't come close to keeping up with a daily diary....despite the fact that I am not doing anything away from home, I still feel plenty busy enough with work, playing with my daughters, cooking at home, going on bike rides, movies, etc.  Anyway, I liked the question and answer portion from his post last week and thought I would play along:

When was the last day you went in to work?

Monday, March 16th. The week before was one of the strangest week's of my life and I tried to go with the day to day recap in my last post. L Brands hadn't officially made the call for all of us to work from home, so I was at work on that Monday. I had an idea it might be my last day at the office, and sure enough when I left work that day I took my monitor and my docking station, so that I could set up a proper home office.

When did your state or city order everyone to stay at home?

March 23rd - but by that time nothing really changed for us....we were already home quarantined

Has there been a particular change to your lifestyle that has been difficult to make or accept? 

So the options would be travel, sports, dining out, working from home and hanging out with friends. I feel like the decision comes down to the final two. I miss traveling with our family (and canceling our Spring Break trip wasn't fun), but this just feels like one of those times where we in between trips. Dining out is also something I miss, but I enjoy cooking and sometimes with young kids it is just easier to have meals at home. Sports is obviously a huge part of my life, but I can watch old Duke games and read plenty of articles on the NFL draft and retrospectives on favorite players, games, etc. So it comes down working from home and hanging out with friends. All things considered working from home has been the most difficult to accept. I generally like my job / coworkers and miss the normal work life. Also, it is tough to do my job, support M with her job and have both of us try and teach / play with the kids. 

What do you miss the most?

I definitely miss hanging out with friends. Bexley is a close community and it is really tough not having dinners and time with our friends in the neighborhood. It is hard for the kids to tell them to be socially distanced from their friends. I would give up travel, sports and dining out before I gave up just normal interactions among friends. 

What is the most unusual thing you have noticed since this crisis began?

I am not sure if this is the most unusual thing, but a random observation is seeing how my kids handle the situation. My 3 year old will sometimes lead the family prayer before dinner and almost always ends it with something like "and I hope the coronavirus doesn't get us." Also, she will talk about how she wants to travel to the beach "on the first day the coronavirus is gone." She doesn't seem to be negatively impacted by this quarantine, but she definitely has an understanding that something unusual is happening now. I find it fascinating how she is processing this situation. 

Do you know anyone who has COVID-19?

Yes - someone I went to high school (and the brother of a friend) as well as someone on my K Academy team. When I found out about those two people having it, it really hit home more than just reading about the virus. 

Do you know anyone who had died from complications related to COVID-19?

No

How long do you think it will be before the stay-at-home order is lifted in your community?

No idea - I would be thrilled if life was back to normal by Memorial Day.

Will you immediately return to your normal routine after the stay-at-home order is lifted? Or will you wait before returning to normal? If you’ll wait, how much longer will you do so?

I can't imagine any of this will be like a light switch, where it goes from abnormal (or the "new normal" as so many people keep saying) to normal. I feel like it will be gradual. 

What’s the first thing you want to do when the stay-at-home order is lifted?

I am going to cheat and say 3 things: 1) go on a date with M and without the kids 2) plan a new trip using some of the credits we got from Delta 3) go play basketball with friends - I had been on a pretty good routine playing basketball 1-2 a week and would love to get back to that.

Have you been ordering food out from local restaurants (carry-out or delivery)?

No. We have thought about it, but haven't ordered any food out in a month. Normally we have enough food from our large grocery store trips. 

How often have you been going to the grocery store?

Once a week. We generally buy a lot, but still feel like we need replenishments after about 7 days.

Will you wear a mask when you go out?

Yes - I didn't the last time, but would like to try and be cautions

Do you think other people have been taking this crisis seriously?
Yes - there seems to be some people who have downplayed the virus initially, but most people seem to be taking it seriously. Of course I talk to a lot less people that before so who knows if my sample size is large enough.

Do you think people have been over-reacting to this situation?
I'm not sure, but I don't think so. When so many different people and organizations come to the same conclusion it seems like either one big example of group think or everyone is reacting appropriately.

How many people do you think will eventually die from COVID-19?
I don't really want to guess that. 

Do you think schools will re-open yet this year?

I just found out that they wouldn't....but we kind of have been anticipating schools would be closed for the year. 

Do you think that summer sports like baseball will occur?
Yes - in some capacity. There will likely be games with no fans first.

What is one thing you have done since this crisis started that you don’t usually do?
Good question....I still do a lot of the same things I used to do (cooking, walks, playing with the kids, etc) but now I just do more of it. Essentially any home activity has increased.

Is there anything that has changed in your life since this crisis began that you hope to keep after the crisis ends?

Our personal budget is pretty amazing from a spending perspective, and I would love to keep that going in the future. I am hoping that this slows life down a little bit and that we can find a happy medium between our old life (trips + dining out) and our new life (saving more money, but with less experiences). It's going to be tough to balance because experiences are really fun (and presumably could be good for the children), but I do like the idea (at least in theory) of running a tighter budget.